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NEGATIVE 

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Author: 


Farrington 


J 


Frank 


Title: 


More  talks  by  the  old 
storekeeper 

Place: 

Chicago 

Date: 

[1912] 


Oi<\s^7a?>\  -a 


MASTER   NEGATIVE   * 


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Parrington,  Frank,  1872- 

More  talks  by  the  old  storekeeper,  by  Frank  Farring- 
ton  ...    Chicago,  111.,  Byxbee  publishing  company  [«1912] 
250  p.   illus.    IS",      ^tee 


1.  Business.       i.  Title. 

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MORE  TALKS   BY  THE 
OLD   STOREKEEPER 


By  FRANK  FARRINGTON 

Author  of 

*•  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper  " 
"  Retail  Advertising — Complete  *' 
"Store  Management — Complete,"  Etc.,  Etc. 


BYXBEE  PUBLISHING  CpMPANY 
CHICAGO,  .^»    \5  l'^  :./    '.       ILL. 


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Copyright,  1912,  by 
BYXBEE  PUBLISHING  CO. 


,^  CONTENTS 


FIRST  TALK 

PAGE 

Those  Mail  Order  Houses  . 9 

How  they  get  the  business  and  why  they  get  it.  The 
home  store  advantages.  How  to  keep  trade  at  home.  What 
advertising  to  use.  What  one  merchant  said  in  his  adver- 
tising.    Barlow's  new,  pretty  girl  clerk. 

SECOND  TALK 
Something  About   Clerks 23 

The  girl  clerk  makes  good.  Value  of  a  set  of  rules  for 
help.  The  Golden  Rule.  Nagging  of  clerks  and  by  clerks. 
Green  clerks.  Starting  them  right*  Holding  clerks'  exam- 
inations.    About  raising  wages. 


39-5-/313 

J)  2  5'<h.  S" 


•V 


•     •    »- 

I         t 


•   •    • 


<   • 


THIRD  TALK 
How  Retail  Advertising  Pays 


37 


The  first  thing  to  learn.  Sticking  to  it.  All  businesses 
alike.  What  advertising  to  do  and  what  not  to  do.  Adver- 
tising to  enliven  dull  days. 

FOURTH  TALK 
The  Clothes  You  Wear 51 

The  new  girl  and  the  competitor's  clerk.  Clothes  to  fit 
the  occupation.  What  to  wear  at  work.  The  well  dressed 
and  the  poorly  dressed  clerk.  Effect  of  the  example  of 
good  clothes.     Interesting  the  clerks  in  better  dress. 


FIFTH  TALK 
Handling  the  Money     .     .     .     . 


66 


Choosing  a  good  cash  system.  Some  disadvantages  to  be 
avoided.  Qualities  needed.  Stopping  mistakes  and  forget- 
fulness.  A  good  credit  system.  Accuracy  in  making  figures 
on  the  business.     Use  of  carbon  systems.     Cashiers. 


Contents 


Contents 


SIXTH  TALK 


PAGE 


TWELFTH  TALK 


Special  Newspaper  Advertising ge 

How  to  push  a  special  line  in  the  newspapers.  Advertise- 
ments that  people  will  read.  Testimonials.  Selling  men's 
|oods  to  women  for  Christmas  gifts.     The  opportunities  of 


SEVENTH  TALK 
Delivering  the  Goods 

Barlow's  new  clerk  is  independent.  The  delivery  of  small 
purchases.  Telephone  orders.  Salesmanship  and  delivery. 
The  grouchy  merchant.  Orders  that  don't  get  delivered  till 
too  late.     Special  sale  taken  to  the  customer.     Automobile 


lOI 


delivery. 


EIGHTH  TALK 


The  Dealer's  Best  Help ji5 

The  big  manufacturer's  advertising  and  how  to  make  it 
count.  Having  the  goods  the  people  want.  Where  to  learn 
more  about  your  business.  The  trade  journals  and  what  is 
in  them.  How  to  make  the  trade  journal  pay  you  big  divi- 
dends.    Filing  ideas  where  they  can  be  found. 


131 


NINTH  TALK 
The  Travelling  Man 

The  Old  Storekeeper  returns  from  a  trip.  Barlow  turns 
down  a  drummer.  Why  the  travelling  salesman  should  be 
treated  well.  What  he  represents.  What  he  knows  that 
will  be  of  value  to  you.  Barlow  gets  engaged.  New  store 
m  town. 

TENTH  TALK 
A  New  Competitor  Opens 145 

Too  much  base  ball  for  business.  New  merchant's  hustling 
methods.  Getting  the  trade  into  a  new  store.  The  danger 
of  earlv  closing.  Stealing  the  other  man's  help.  Lack  of 
cordiality.  The  solemn  store.  The  value  of  cheerfulness. 
Store  papers. 

ELEVENTH  TALK 
A  Customer's  Point  of  View igi 

Barlow's  over-confidence.  Mistakes  with  clerks.  What 
makes  a  popular  store.  What  a  woman  thinks  about  suc- 
cessful merchandising.  Prompt  service.  "No  trouble  to 
show  goods.  How  men  like  to  buy.  Reading  the  litera- 
ture of  the  business. 


PAGE 


How  TO  Have  Good  Clerks 175 

The  "  Enterprise  Club."  The  right  sort  of  a  boss.  The 
ambitious  clerk.  Appreciation  of  help.  Moral  responsibil- 
ity regarding  them.  Example  some  merchants  set.  Temper. 
Mistakes.  The  easy  boss.  Health.  Cigarettes.  Profit  shar- 
Salesmanship.     Barlow  calls  for  help. 


ing 


THIRTEENTH  TALK 


Getting  the  Business  Back 189 

New  store  gets  Barlow's  trade.  Old  Storekeeper  sends 
Barlow  on  vacation.  Development  and  operation  of  pre- 
mium plans.  What  kinds  of  premiums  to  use.  How  to 
handle  them.  How  to  interest  the  public.  Trade  associa- 
tions and  their  value.  Getting  outside  ideas.  Barlow  re- 
turns. 

FOURTEENTH  TALK 
Using  the  Windows 205 

How  to  learn  window  dressing.  Putting  ideas  into  prac- 
tice. Where  to  get  plans.  Making  the  window  produce 
sales.     Other  people's  window  dressing  ideas. 

FIFTEENTH  TALK 
Developing  High  Class  Trade 219 

Hunting  up  new  markets  and  newer  goods.  Who  buys 
the  best  goods.  How  to  make  them  buy.  Handling  the 
finicky  trade.  The  goods  that  draw  the  best  trade.  What 
the  monied  customers  like  and  what  they  will  not  allow. 
Premiums  and  classy  trade. 

SIXTEENTH  TALK 
Self   Selling   Goods 23S 

Starting  the  5-10  and  25^  business.  Who  buy  the  bargain 
goods.  Where  to  show  them.  How  to  make  them  sell. 
Keeping  bargain  stock  from  driving  away  the  high  class 
trade.  Some  live  leader  plans.  Something  about  show- 
cards.  How  wives  can  help.  Merchant's  wives  as  business 
promoters.     Barlow  and  his  wife. 


«> 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


tt 


Why  don't  you  get  out  and  get  a  little  fresh  air?' 

See  page  93. 


PREFACE 


The  first  "Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper" 
which  appeared  a  little  while  ago  in  book  form 
met  with  so  cordial  a  reception  that  I  have  felt 
it  a  pleasure  to  write  the  second  series. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  for  the  last  word  ever 
to  be  said  on  storekeeping  and  no  matter  how 
much  any  man  may  know  about  merchandising 
and  store  management  and  advertising,  prac- 
tically every  other  man  in  the  business  has  dis- 
covered some  things  that  the  first  man  missed. 

The  readers  of  these  new  "  Talks  "  may  not 
agree  with  all  the  ideas  that  the  book  offers,  but 
even  so,  it  will  probably  have  the  effect  of  set- 
ting them  to  thinking  in  a  way  that  will  prove 
independently  profitable.  Ideas  that  produce 
ideas  are  worth  noticing. 

After  the  events  narrated  in  the  last  chapter 
of  the  original  book  of  "  Talks,"  it  was  some 
weeks  before  Tobias  Jenkins  dropped  into  the 
store  to  stay  for  any  length  of  time  and  John 
Barlow  began  to  wonder  whether  he  had  not  in 

7 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

some  way  oflfended  his  old  friend  and  predeces- 
sor. This  however  proved  not  to  be  the  case 
as  the  old  ways  were  soon  resumed  again  with 
the  results  to  be  told  in  the  chapters  of  this  col- 
lection of  "  More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper." 

Frank  Farrington. 


8 


FIRST  TALK 


THOSE    MAIL   ORDER   HOUSES 

The  air  was  beginning  to  feel  like  fall  and 
occasional  dead  leaves  blew  along  the  sidewalks 
one  smoky  afternoon  as  Tobias  Jenkins  came 
out  of  Charley  Morrison's  drug  store  and  stood 
looking  up  at  the  yellow  face  of  the  sun. 

"  Dry,  dry,  dry.  We  can't  stand  much  more 
of  this  weather  or  the  farmers  will  have  to  buy 
bottled  water  for  the  stock,"  said  he  to  himself. 
"  It's  going  to  be  pretty  tough  on  the  merchants 
who  have  to  carry  the  farmers  on  their  books. 
Guess  I'll  go  in  and  see  how  John's  getting  along. 
He  ought  to  be  getting  ready  for  the  fall  trade 


now. 


9} 


Walking  slowly  past  the  windows  of  Barlow's 
store  he  entered  the  door  and  strolled  back  be- 
tween the  counters  toward  the  office  of  the  pro- 
prietor who  had  a  roll-top  desk  and  a  safe  fenced 
off  for  his  private  use.  Tobias  hesitated  at  the 
ribbon  case  as  he  saw  a  brand  new  girl,  a  very 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

pretty   and   stylish   looking  girl,   arranging   the 
goods  there. 

She  was  a  stranger  to  him  and  he  realized  that 
Barlow  must  have  been  importing  help  from 
some  larger  place.  The  old  man  appreciated  a 
good  looking  girl  and  he  knew  to  a  fraction  of 
a  cent  the  value  of  such  attractiveness  in  a  store 
—  if  properly  used.  The  girl  looked  up  and 
said,  "Good  afternoon  "  but  Tobias  simply  said, 
"  Vm  just  a  passenger  "  as  he  went  on  back  to 
the  office. 

"Well,  Mr.  Jenkins,  I  thought  you  had  de- 
serted me,"  said  John.  "Sit  down,"  and  he 
shoved  an  arm  chair  toward  the  visitor. 

"  I've  been  staying  away  on  purpose,  John," 
said  the  newcomer.  "  I  thought  maybe  it  would 
be  better  if  I  didn't  keep  coming  around  and 
handing  out  advice  all  the  while.  Free  advice 
is  like  free  advertising,  worth  just  about  half 
what  it  costs." 

"Not  in  your  case,  Mr.  Jenkins.  Your  ad- 
vice is  worth  a  lot  of  money  to  me,  or  at  least 
it  would  be  if  I  would  take  a  little  more  pains 
to  follow  it.  i  can  see  now  where  I  have  lost 
a  good  deal  of  business  by  thinking  that  I  knew 
more  about  it  than  you  do.  What  do  you  think 
of  the  outlook  for  rain  ?  This  drouth  is  getting 
to  be  a  pretty  serious  thing  with  the  farmers 

10 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

and  they  aren't  buying  a  thing  they  don't  have 
to  have." 

"  I  think  it  looks  just  as  much  like  rain  now 
as  it  has  any  time  in  the  last  six  weeks,  and  not 
a  bit  more.  It's  going  to  be  up  to  you  to  work 
harder  than  ever  this  fall  for  what  trade  there 
is  so  as  to  make  up  for  what  there  isn't.  You'll 
have  to  get  more  of  the  other  fellow's  business 
and  all  the  merchants  ought  to  get  together  and 
try  harder  to  bring  business  here  that's  going 
to  other  towns  around  and  to  those  Chicago  mail 
order  houses." 

"  That's  right,"  interrupted  Barlow.  "  Those 
cussed  mail  order  houses  are  what  are  raising 
the  dickens.  Every  farmer  around  here  has  one 
of  their  eight  day  catalogs  and  reads  it  oftener 
than  he  does  his  Bible." 

"  Well,  now,  don't  go  up  in  the  air  about  it, 
John.  I'm  no  great  friend  of  the  mail  order 
fellows  that  I  know  of.  I  don't  buy  my  goods 
that  way  and  I  don't  believe  anybody  can  make 
any  money  doing  it  in  the  long  run,  but  I  can't 
see  but  that  those  fellows  are  doing  business  in 
a  perfectly  legitimate  way.  Of  course  you  don't 
like  their  competition  and  I  don't  blame  you,  but 
it's  fair,  isn't  it?  They're  getting  trade  because 
they  most  everlastingly  go  after  it.  They're  hus- 
tlers after  business.     They  don't  spend  any  time 

II 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


"Every  farmer  has  one  of  their  catalogs." 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

or  energy  sitting  around  kicking  because  the 
country  merchant  is  getting  some  of  the  trade 
they  want.  No  sir,  they  work  overtime  trying 
to  figure  out  ways  of  making  people  send  money 
to  them  instead  of  spending  it  at  home." 

"  They  do  everybody  they  sell  goods  to,"  put 
in  Barlow  indignantly.  "Why,  look  here,  I 
know  a  man  who  just  bought  a  suit  of  clothes 
from  a  Chicago  house  and  when  they  came,  the 
coat  and  pants  didn't  even  match." 

"  Wouldn't  they  make  it  right  ?  " 

"  Yes,  of  course  they  said  they'd  make  it  right, 
but  what  good  would  that  do?  The  fellow 
wanted  the  clothes  to  wear." 

"  Oh  well,  I  don't  see  that  that's  a  very  good 
argument  in  proof  of  the  dishonesty  of  the  mail 
order  house  though  it's  an  argument  in  favor 
of  buying  where  you  can  see  what  you're  get- 
ting. When  you  come  to  think  of  it,  the  advan- 
tages are  all  in  favor  of  the  merchant  who  is 
right  on  the  spot  and  if  he  loses  trade  to  a  mer- 
chant a  thousand  miles  away,  he  really  hasn't 
anyone  to  blame  but  himself." 

Barlow  seemed  rather  put  out  because  of  the 
older  man's  unsympathetic  attitude  but  he  re- 
frained from  the  sacastic  remark  that  was  on  the 
end  of  his  tongue,  and  said, 

13 


12 


«V' 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  I  don't  believe,  Mr.  Jenkins,  that  when  you 
ran  this  store  the  mail  order  houses  were  making 
the  bid  for  trade  that  they  are  making  now  and 
perhaps  you  didn't  go  up  against  it  in  the  way 
we  have  to  nowadays." 

"No,  I  didn't.    You're  right,  but  this  mail 
order  competition  doesn't  involve  any  spick  and 
span  new  principle  that  I  know  of.     Here's  your 
store  right  here  in  Hampton  with  the  goods  in 
It  and  all  the  charges  on  them  paid.    A  farmer 
comes  in  and  wants  a  pair  of  overalls  and  a  box 
of  collars  and  a  clothes  line ;  maybe  a  lot  more 
things.    You   can   show   him   the  goods.    You 
can  turn  them  right  over  to  him  if  he  likes  them 
There   isn't   any   freight   for  him  to  pay.     He 
doesn't  have  to  wait  for  the  stuff  to  come  and 
take  a  chance  of  its  turning  out  to  be  different 
from  what  he  ordered  or  from  what  he  thought 
It  was  going  to  be.     You  can  probably  even  sell 
him  the  goods  within  a  few  cents  of  what  he 
would  pay  in  Chicago  for  a  grade  no  better  and 
very  likely  not  quite  as  good.     The  advantage 
for  the  farmer  is  all  in  buying  from  you.     You 
know  a  hundred  reasons  for  that  beside  what 
I've  mentioned.     Why  does  Mr.  Farmer  send  to 
Chicago  at  all  ?  " 

"  Because  he's  a  natural  born  darned  fool  and 
a  cent  looks  bigger  to  him  than  a  month  of  wait- 

14 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

ing  and  a  thousand  chances  of  the  goods  being 
[wrong." 

"  Not  on  your  life !  "  ejaculated  Tobias.  "  The 
farmer  is  no  more  a  natural  born  darned  fool 
than  you  are.  He's  willing  to  pay  a  fair  price 
for  what  he  buys.  He's  a  business  man  nowa- 
days and  doesn't  even  look  at  affairs  the  way 
he  used  to  years  ago.  I've  done  business  with 
farmers  ever  since  I've  done  business  with  any- 
body and  I  know  what  I'm  talking  about. 
They're  the  best  customers  I  had  when  I  ran 
the  store.  They're  the  backbone  of  the  country 
to-day.  They're  the  people  who  had  money  in 
the  last  panic  when  nobody  else  had  a  cent. 
They  send  to  the  mail  order  houses  because  the 
[mail  order  houses  keep  asking  them  to  send  and 
showing  them  what  they  have  to  sell  and  how- 
much  it  is  to  cost.  The  mail  order  house  tells 
a  good  story.  It  describes  its  goods  in  the  best 
way  that  printer's  ink  will  do  it;  with  pictures 
and  word  descriptions  that  make  you  want  the 
goods.  I  know  for  I  get  the  catalogs  as  regu- 
larly as  they  come  out.  I  send  for  them  be- 
cause I  want  to  see  what's  doing.  You  ought 
to  do  the  same.  If  you  knew  your  goods  as 
well  as  the  mail  order  man  and  described  them 
as  well  to  your  customers,  you  would  sell  more 
of  them.     Every  merchant  ought  to  do  all  in 

15 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

his  power  to  keep  posted  on  what  his  competi- 
tors are  doing  and  these  mail  order  competitors, 
according  to  your  own  story,  are  about  your 
hottest  and  most  lively  ones." 

"Well,  I  don't  see  where  all  that  helps  me 
any.  I  can't  stop  those  houses  from  sending] 
out  their  catalogs  and  keeping  the  farmers  all: 
stirred  up,  can  I  ?  " 

**Why,  John,  you're  not  so  blind  as  all  that, 
are  you?  Can't  you  see  any  better  way  of  get- 
ting under  your  competitor's  belt  ?  When  Larry 
Benjamin  over  there  gets  out  some  extra  hot 
advertising  matter  and  springs  a  lot  of  bargains 
in  your  line  on  the  public,  you  don't  try  to  figure 
out  how  you  can  get  him  to  stop  his  advertising,, 
do  you?  Not  by  a  jugful!  You  get  busy  on 
your  own  advertising  and  try  to  go  him  one  bet-| 
ter.  Well,  that's  the  only  way  to  meet  these 
other  competitors.  If  it  pays  them,  as  far  away 
as  they  are,  to  advertise  to  your  customers,  it 
sure  ought  to  pay  you  right  here  on  the  spot  to 
do  it. 

"  You  don't  need  to  follow  along  the  tracks  | 
of  the  mail  order  advertisers.  You  needn't  pay 
any  special  attention  to  them  unless  you  want 
to,  but  you  ought  to  be  firing  out  advertising  to 
the  farmers  all  the  time.  I  say  the  farmers 
especially  because  they  are  the  class  who  buy  the^ 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

most  goods  from  the  mail  order  people.  They 
seem  to  respond  to  the  advertising  better  —  and 
they  would  respond  to  your  advertising  better 
too.'^ 

"I've  been  advertising  to  the  farmers  all  the 
time  since  I've  been  in  business  and  it  hasn't 
made  me  rich." 

"  It's  paid  you,  hasn't  it  ?  " 

"Well,  I've  been  doing  a  good  business  and 
{getting  more  of  it  all  the  time,  so  I  suppose  that 
I  or  something  else  must  have  helped  matters 
along." 

"Of  course.  Your  advertising  all  helps  and 
your  business  is  growing  all  the  time  but  you 
might  as  well  let  it  grow  some  faster.  You 
aren't  like  old  Josey  Johnson,  are  you?  Won't 
advertise  because  he's  making  a  living  out  of  his 
grocery  store  without  advertising.  It's  all  right 
to  be  satisfied  w^ith  things  as  they  are,  but  a  lit- 
tle ambition  is  necessary  if  a  man  is  going  to 
get  in  sight  of  the  top." 

"  I  can't  get  out  a  big  catalog  like  those  mail 

order  houses.  I  haven't  the  line  and  it  wouldn't 
pay." 

"  No,  of  course  not.  It  wouldn't  pay  you  to 
get  out  a  catalog  of  goods  you  haven't  got  and 
it  wouldn't  pay  you  to  get  in  a  big  stock  of  goods 
just  so  you  could  catalog  them.    But  what's  to 

17 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

hinder  you  from  putting  into  your  customer's 
hands  two  or  three  or  four  times  a  year  a  cata- 
log of  the  goods  you  do  have?  I'd  include  too 
full  instructions  how  to  order  them  by  mail  if 
anyone  wants  to  do  it  that  way.  It  would 
pay  you  to  do  more  of  that  kind  of  advertis- 
mg. 

"  It  would  pay  the  printer  better  than  it  would 
pay  me,"  said  Barlow  rather  sourly,  "  I  don't 
believe  any  retail  store  can  buck  this  mail  order 
proposition  and  make  money  at  it." 

"  He  can  if  he  will  try  and  111  just  bet  you 
twenty-five  dollars  that  if  you  will  let  me  tell 
you  what  to  do,  you  can  make  your  business 
grow  by  following  my  advice.  Here's  a  little 
dodge  a  fellow  in  Illinois  worked  the  other  day. 
He  called  a  spade  a  spade  and  while  I  don't  as 
a  rule  believe  in  saying  anything  about  your 
competitor  in  advertisements,  still  this  was  so 
clever  that  in  a  catalog  ridden  town  it  might  be 
pretty  successful,  especially  as  the  point  is  well 
made.  I'll  just  read  you  the  contents  of  the  ad- 
vertisement the  merchant  sent  out  to  his  mailing 
list  : 

"  *  Our  old  friend,  Montgomery  Ward,  of 
Chicago,  sent  us  a  nice  big  book  yesterday,  but 
as  it  came  by  freight  and  was  left  at  the  back 
door,  we  had  not  the  opportunity  to  personally 

i8 


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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

thank  him,  and  we  now  take  this  method  of  do- 
ing so.  It  seems  as  how  Montgomery  keeps  a 
store  down  there,  and  this  books  tells  how  cheap 
he  sells  things.  The  book  is  also  full  of  pic- 
tures of  how  a  fellow  would  look  dressed  up  in 
some  of  Montgomery's  bargains.  For  example, 
we  notice  that  he  says  he  will  sell  an  oiled  Gal- 
loway coat  for  $21.75.  Now,  we  believe  he  is 
honest  in  this,  because  we  sell  the  same  kind  for 
$20.00.  Not  much  diflference  in  the  price,  but 
Montgomery  is  queer  in  some  ways;  he  wants 
the  money  first.  He  says  if  you  will  send  him 
$1.65  he  will  send  you  a  *  pure  wool '  undershirt 
for  it;  that  would  be  just  like  Montgomery  — 
he  would  do  it  you  bet  —  the  same  shirt  would 
cost  $1.50  here,  pure,  long  wool,  the  '  Staley 
Make,'  at  that.  And  then  he  says  he  sells  work 
shirts  for  thirty-six  cents.  Montgomery  is  a 
little  high  here,  too  —  we  sell  them  for  thirty- 
five,  cents.  He  thinks  it's  better  though,  to  buy 
the  forty-three  cent  kind;  of  course,  what  he 
really  means  is,  it's  better  for  Montgomery  — 
but  he's  so  timid  in  saying  so.  Fleece  lined  un- 
derwear, the  kind  we  sell  for  twenty-nine  cents, 
Montgomery  thinks  are  bargains  at  fifty  cents. 
Montgomery  is  all  right,  and  we  thank  him  for 
the  book.  More  new  suits  Saturday.' " 
"  I  wouldn't  advertise  Montgomery  Ward  like 

19 


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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


1 


''How  long  have  you  been  in  the  peach  business f" 


20 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

that/'   said   Barlow.     "  I    don't  believe   in  that 
kind  of  advertising/' 

"I  didn't  say  I  did,  did  I?"  said  Tobias. 
"  You  didn't  take  up  my  bet  and  I'm  not  going  to 
give  you  any  real  advice  —  yes,  I  am  too.  I'll 
tell  you  this  much;  if  I  were  you  I'd  do  as 
Charley  Morrison  told  the  man  to  do  who  hired 
out  to  cut  his  wood  and  then  spent  all  his  time 
standing  around  telling  how  many  cords  he'd  cut 
in  a  day  some  other  time  and  what  a  wonder  he 
used  to  be.  Charley  got  tired  of  all  talk  and 
no  chop  and  told  him  to  get  busy  and  chop  more 
wood  with  the  axe  and  less  with  his  mouth.  I 
don't  mean  that  you  don't  chop  any  wood.  But 
about  this  mail  order  competition,  I'd  either  get 
after  the  business  in  the  right  way  or  I'd  stop 
kicking  about  the  other  fellows  getting  it." 

Barlow  took  the  advice  in  good  spirit  and  ad- 
mitted the  force  of  it. 

After  discussing  the  matter  for  a  while  longer 
Tobias  arose  to  go,  saying  as  he  got  up, 

"  By  the  way,  John,  how  long  have  you  been 
in  the  peach  business  ?  " 

Barlow  looked  blank  for  an  instant  until  he 
saw  the  other  man's  glance  travel  toward  the 
girl  at  the  ribbon  case.  Then  he  turned  red  and 
sort  of  stammered, 

"Why  — er  — that   is,    she   is   a    saleslady   I 

21 


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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

hired  when  I  was  in  New  York  the  other  day. 
Her  name  is  Dolly  Dingle.  They  told  me  that 
she  could  sell  more  goods  than  any  other  clerk 
in  the  store  where  she'd  been  working.  She 
wanted  to  get  out  of  the  city  on  account  of  her 
mother's  health,  and  I  engaged  her.  Don't  you 
think  she'll  make  good  ?  " 

Tobias  said  nothing  for  a  moment  as  he 
walked  out  of  the  office  and  just  at  the  corner 
of  the  railing  he  turned  and  remarked  in  a  dry 

tone, 

"  Yes,  John,  I'm  inclined  to  think  she'll  make 
good.     Probably  it  won't  take  her  long  either." 


22 


SECOND  TALK 

SOMETHING   ABOUT   CLERKS 

For  several  days  after  Mr.  Jenkins'  last  visit 
to  Barlow's  store  he  made  it  a  point  to  drop  in 
once  or  twice  a  day  just  to  buy  some  little  thing 
or  other  and  get  a  line  on  how  the  new  girl  was 

getting  on. 

To  tell  the  truth,  he  was  afraid  that  she  was 
almost  too  pretty  and  stylish  to  be  a  success  in 
a  store  in  a  small  town.  In  his  mind  he  saw  all 
sorts  of  unfortunate  complications  arising.  He 
even  told  his  wife  that  he  never  heard  of  a  girl 
named  Dolly  amounting  to  anything  as  a  worker 
and  he  didn't  believe  she  would. 

The  first  time  or  two  that  he  went  into  the 
store  Barlow  was  not  there  and  one  or  two  of 
the  boys  who  should  have  been  at  work  were 
standing  around  Dolly  Dingle  jollying  her.  To- 
bias noted  that  the  girl  herself  kept  busy  and 
seemed  not  to  pay  very  much  attention  to  the 
boys,  but  nevertheless  it  seemed  that  she  was  al- 
ready a  disturbing  element. 

23 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


i 


i 


Then  one  day  Mr.  Jenkins  went  down  town 
on  an  errand  for  his  wife  who  wanted  a  piece 
of  ribbon  matched.  He  walked  up  to  Miss 
Dingle's  counter  which  was,  strange  to  say,  de- 
serted by  the  men  clerks  just  then,  and  showed 
her  his  sample  and  told  what  he  wanted. 

Well,  he  had  expected  to  be  treated  in  a  sort 
of  semi-snippy  manner  and  perhaps  made  to  feel 
that  he  had  no  business  buying  ribbon  and  tak- 
ing up  her  valuable  time.  He  had  had  such  ex- 
periences before  with  salesladies. 

He  was  agreeably  surprised  by  the  manner  in 
which  the  girl  greeted  him.  She  was  pleasant 
without  overdoing  it  and  she  seemed  to  take  a 
pleasure  in  making  him  feel  at  ease  in  buying 
goods  that  were  a  little  out  of  the  line  of  a  man's 
ordinary  purchases  —  and  she  was  not  chewing 
gum! 

She  took  pains  to  show  him  all  the  different 
grades  of  goods  and  to  explain  their  differences, 
and  evidently  she  did  not  know  that  she  was 
waiting  upon  an  old  merchant.  In  a  word  she 
did  everything  that  a  good  clerk  could  do  to 
please  a  customer. 

Tobias  went  home  with  the  ribbon  and  was  so 
enthusiastic  over  "  Barlow's  Dolly  Dingle,"  as 
he  called  her,  that  his  wife  took  him  to  task  for 

24 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


it  and  continued  to  tease  him  for  days  after- 
ward. 

On  his  next  call  at  the  store  Barlow  himself 
was  visiting  with  the  attractive  saleslady  and 
when  he  saw  Tobias  coming  in  he  looked  up  and 
turned  just  red  enough  so  that  the  girl  noticed 
it  and  elevated  her  head  and  turned  her  back 
to  the  men  as  she  went  about  some  work. 

"  I  want  to  write  a  letter,  John.  Can  I  use 
your  desk  a  few  minutes  ?  "  Mr.  Jenkins  asked 
as  he  walked  toward  the  office. 

John  assented  cordially  and  followed  along 
back  and  sat  down  in  the  old  arm  chair  usually 
occupied  by  the  old  Storekeeper.  While  the 
other  wrote,  Barlow  lighted  a  cigar  and  puffed 
away  in  silence,  turning  the  leaves  of  a  trade 
journal  slowly. 

At  last  the  letter  was  finished  and  sealed  into 
an  envelope  and  Tobias  swung  around  and  said, 

"  How  does  the  new  clerk  get  on,  John  ? " 

John  looked  at  his  friend  rather  curiously  out 
of  the  corner  of  his  eyes  but  seeing  no  disposi- 
tion to  joke,  he  answered, 

"  Fine.  I  think  she  is  all  that  was  claimed  for 
her.  She  knows  her  stock  already  and  she  sure 
is  a  wonder  at  showing  goods." 

"  She  waited  on  me  a  day  or  so  ago,"  said 

25 


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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

Tobias,  "  and  I  guess  you're  right.  If  she  treats 
everybody  as  well  as  she  did  me,  she  will  make 
customers  for  you  right  along.  V\l  admit  I  was 
a  little  afraid  she  would  be  too  much  devoted  to 
the  ways  of  the  city  trade  to  be  of  great  value 
here  where  most  of  your  trade  is  country  people. 
She  must  be  possessed  of  some  tact.  Tact  is 
the  one  thing  a  good  clerk  has  to  have.  Good 
salesmanship  is  to  be  able  to  please  customers, 
and  without  tact  it  can't  be  done. 

"  If  this  girl  fails  to  make  money  for  you  it 
will  be  your  own  fault.  And  the  great  danger 
is  that  she'll  be  spoiled  by  the  men  around  the 
store  and  I  don't  except  anybody  when  I  say 
that.  A  mixed  lot  of  clerks  is  all  right  and  if 
handled  right  it  makes  a  fine  force,  but  if  it  isn't 
handled  right  there  will  be  too  much  lovey  dovey 
business  and  the  men  will  be  hanging  over  the 
counters  talking  to  the  girls  and  that  will  mean 
that  the  girls  can't  work  if  they  want  to  and  the 
men  won't  want  to  and  the  customers  will  find  it 
lonesome  waiting  until  conversations  about  ^  last 
night '  are  finished. 

"  The  way  to  have  your  clerks  right  is  to  start 
'em  right.  It's  a  good  deal  easier  to  lay  down 
the  rules  and  get  them  all  clear  in  the  clerk's 
mind  right  at  first  than  it  is  to  have  to  be  cor- 
recting him  every  day  afterward.     And  there  are 

26 


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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

a  good  many  things  that  you  can  tell  him  at  first 
without  hurting  his  feelings,  that  maybe  would 
seem  pretty  personal  when  they  apply  to  faults 
that  he  proves  to  possess. 

"  I  believe  it's  a  good  plan  for  every  store- 
keeper to  work  out  a  set  of  rules  that  he  finds 
will  fit  his  store  and  keep  them  posted  up  where 
all  his  clerks  will  see  them  and  read  them.  In 
this  way  he  can  keep  reminding  them  of  some 
of  the  points  that  he  hates  to  be  calling  attention 
to  every  day.  A  man  doesn't  like  to  nag  his 
clerks  any  more  than  they  like  to  be  nagged,  but 
when  they  stick  to  the  same  old  faults  week  after 
week,  he  can't  let  'em  go  on  without  doing  them 
and  his  business  harm." 

*'  That's  so,"  assented  Barlow.  "  Nagging 
certainly  spoils  the  disposition  of  the  nagger  and 
the  naggee.     I've  been  there." 

"  The  nagging  isn't  always  done  by  the  boss 
either,"  continued  Tobias.  "  Some  clerks  seem 
to  just  delight  in  nagging  their  employers.  They 
don't  do  it  perhaps  in  the  way  that  nagging  is 
usually  done,  but  they  keep  making  the  same  mis- 
take time  after  time,  or  they  keep  asking  the 
same  old  questions  about  stock  until  the  boss 
gets  frazzled  nerves  answering  them.  Once 
ought  to  be  enough  for  anybody  to  tell  anybody 
else  a  simple  fact.    An  ordinary  brain  ought  to 

27 


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1 1 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

grasp  an  ordinary  order  the  first  time  it's  told. 
The  average  clerk  doesn't  realize  that  he  is  own- 
ing up  to  a  weak  mind  when  he  forgets  and  for- 
gets and  forgets  until  patience  ceases  to  be  a 
virtue. 

"  I've  broken  in  a  good  many  new  clerks  in  my 
time  and  I've  learned  a  thing  or  two  in  doing 
it.  A  clerk  is  the  same  kind  of  a  fellow  his  boss 
is,  or  was.  Human  nature  doesn't  vary  a  whole 
lot  whether  it's  a  clerk  or  an  employer.  I 
can  remember  all  about  when  I  was  a  clerk  and 
I  have  seen  a  good  many  storekeepers  who  either 
never  were  clerks  or  else  couldn't  remember  any- 
thing about  how  it  seemed.  They  seem  to  plumb 
forget  all  about  how  they  felt  when  they  were 
working  for  small  wages. 

"The  Golden  Rule  is  the  only  rule  for  any 
kind  of  business  and  for  any  part  of  the  manage- 
ment of  the  business.  When  a  man  gets  to  where 
he  can't  treat  his  clerks  and  his  customers  in  the 
way  he'd  like  them  to  treat  him,  he'd  better  pull 
in  his  sign. 

"  I  always  knew  what  kind  of  things  my  clerks 
wanted  to  do  to  have  a  good  time  and  I  could 
appreciate  how  they  felt  about  such  things  be- 
cause I  was  always  pretty  fond  of  a  good  time 
myself.  That  made  me  willing  to  put  myself 
out  sometimes  to  accommodate  the  boys  and  that 

28 


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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

in  turn  made  them  always  ready  to  accommodate 
me.  I  never  had  a  clerk  who  would  get  sore 
at  having  to  work  over-time  or  at  not  getting 
out  when  he  asked  to  go.  In  the  first  place,  it 
didn't  often  happen  that  I  would  have  to  refuse 
a  man  permission  to  get  off.  If  I  saw  some- 
thing coming  that  some  of  the  boys  would  want 
to  take  in,  I  tried  to  arrange  it  to  suit  all  hands 
as  far  as  possible  without  waiting  to  be  asked. 

"The  merchant  who  doesn't  give  anything 
more  to  his  clerks  than  they  insist  on  having  will 
get  out  of  them  just  about  as  much  work  as  he 
insists  upon  their  doing.  Some  men  who  go  on 
the  plan  of  '  Nothing  for  nothing  and  darned  lit- 
tle for  a  dollar'  may  be  able  to  sell  goods  that 
way  and  hang  on  to  some  trade,  but  they  won't 
very  long  hang  onto  any  clerks  who  are  any 
good  and  who  can  get  anything  else  to  do. 

"  It's  pretty  hard  for  the  boss  to  realize  that 
a  new  clerk  doesn't  know  anything  about  the 
business.  A  fellow  comes  into  the  store  who 
seems  to  be  a  nice  young  chap  and  has  an  ordi- 
nary amount  of  intelligence  and  the  boss  maybe 
has  known  him  off  and  on  for  years.  Well,  this 
chap  has  never  worked  in  a  store  before  and 
doesn't  even  know  how  to  make  change  and  do 
it  right.  He  begins  it  at  the  wrong  end  and  he 
does  pretty  nearly  everything  wrong  end  first. 

29 


%   > 


I 

I 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


i  t 


I       !' 


"/  tried  to  arrange  it  to  suit  all  hands." 


30 


I  i 


1 
I  ii 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  It's  aggravating ;  no  doubt  about  it.  Sales 
are  lost  and  customers  are  disgruntled  and  the 
cash  is  short  and  all  sorts  of  accidents  happen. 
If  they  all  happened  at  once  the  boss  would  go 
crazy,  but  that's  the  compensating  thing  about 
life  anyway,  troubles  come  only  a  day  at  a  time, 
and  that's  plenty  as  a  rule. 

"  The  new  clerk  is  generally  trying  his  best 
and  it's  like  the  sign  in  that  wild  west  *  Beer  gar- 
den '  that  reads,  '  Don't  shoot  the  pianist,  he's 
doing  his  best/  The  right  kind  of  a  boss  re- 
members that  he  was  once  a  greenhorn  himself 
and  he  thinks  of  the  time  when  he  didn't  know  a 
sales  slip  from  a  government  bond.  He  uses  a 
little  patience,  and  the  clerk  comes  out  all  right. 
After  all  patience  is  all  that's  necessary  with 
green  clerks.  They'll  learn  fast  enough  if  they 
have  a  chance.  They  don't  like  it  any  better 
than  the  boss  does  to  have  customers  come  in 
and  make  fools  of  them. 

"  Why,  a  clerk  I  had  once  made  a  mistake  he 
didn't  get  over  blushing  about  for  a  week.  A 
woman  came  in  and  asked  for  a  pad.  They  wore 
hip  pads  a  good  deal  in  those  days  —  maybe 
they  do  yet  for  all  I  know  —  and  John  thought 
of  those  first.  He  got  some  out  and  laid  them 
down  before  the  customer  and  she  very  coldly 
informed  him  that   she  wished  a  writing  tab- 

31 


« 

! 


( 


i 


i 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

let,  not  one  of  those  'trumpery  things.'    I  be- 
lieve that's  what  she  called  them." 

Barlow  laughed  a  little  over  this  and  added 
that  it  reminded  him  of  the  man  who  came  into 
Morrison's  drug  store  a  few  days  before  and 
wanted  to  get  a  medicine  dropper. 

"  He  was  an  intelligent  looking  chap,"  said 
Barlow,  "but  he  was  as  ignorant  as  your  clerk. 
He  asked  for  a  *  drooper.*  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Tobias,  "  the  clerks  aren't  always 
to  blame  for  the  mistakes  that  are  made.  When 
you  see  the  way  that  people  ask  for  things  and 
the  way  they  mix  up  the  names  of  goods,  it's 
funny  there  aren't  more  mistakes  made. 

"  I  always  used  to  tell  my  clerks  to  be  patient 
with  customers  who  asked  for  things  they'd 
never  heard  of.  Never  give  up,  I'd  tell  them, 
until  you  have  found  out  what  the  customer 
really  wants.  Don't  turn  anybody  off  with  a 
careless  '  We  haven't  got  it,'  just  because  you 
don't  know  what  they're  driving  at. 

"  When  one  clerk  didn't  know  what  the  cus- 
tomer meant,  I'd  have  him  say  '  I'm  not  sure 
whether  we  have  that  or  not,  I'll  see.'  Then 
he'd  come  and  tell  me  or  a  more  experienced 
clerk  that  he  couldn't  make  out  what  his  cus- 
tomer wanted  and  that  clerk  would  come  along 
and  say,  *  Is  anyone  waiting  upon  you  ?    Yes, 

32 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

what  was  it  you  wanted? '  etc.  It's  easy  enough 
to  give  the  other  clerks  a  chance  and  two  heads 
are  better  than  one  any  old  day.  And  no  clerk 
has  any  business  to  laugh  at  the  mistakes  of  the 
customers. 

"  The  Irish  woman  who  came  into  Morrison's 
one  day  when  I  was  in  there  and  asked  for  a 
comb  had  just  as  good  money  as  anyone. 
'  Give  me  a  comb,'  said  she.  *  Do  you  want  a 
fine  tooth  comb  ? '  asked  Charley.  '  No,  I  want 
it  for  me  hair,'  said  she.  Charley  never  turned 
a  hair  but  handed  out  what  she  wanted  and 
laughed  after  she'd  gone  out. 

"  I  used  to  have  a  little  scheme  that  helped  to 
make  good  clerks  and  it  pleased  the  clerks  too. 
I  never  raised  a  clerk's  pay  until  he  had  been 
m  the  store  a  year.    At  the  end  of  the  year 
I  got  up  a  little  examination  for  him  to  try. 
It  was  a  number  of  questions  about  handling  cus- 
tomers and  about  all  kinds  of  work  he  had  to 
do.    The  questions  were  laid  out  with  a  view 
to  TOvering  the  weak  points  that  he  showed. 
•  "  I  told  him  that  with  a  year  of  experience 
he  ought  to  be  worth  more  money  than  he  was 
at  first  and  that  I  was  willing  to  give  him  more 
If  he  was  worth  it.     I  told  him  that  of  course 
I  had  my  own  opinion  in  the  matter  but  that  I 
wanted  him  to  try  a  little  examination  and  if 

33 


\ 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

everything  was  satisfactory  he  would  get  a 
raise.  Of  course  if  he  was  a  poor  clerk  and 
wasn't  worth  a  raise  I  let  him  go  without  any 
further  fuss  because  a  clerk  who  hasn't  im- 
proved enough  in  a  year  to  be  worth  a  raise 
isn't  very  blamed  valuable  to  the  store. 

"  I  never  did  believe  in  making  a  clerk  ask  for 
every  raise  he  got  and  then  giving  it  to  him 
only  when  he  threatened  to  leave  if  I  didn't.  A 
fellow  appreciates  a  raise  in  pay  more  when  it 
comes  without  being  asked  for,  and  if  the  boss 
only  gives  a  raise  when  it's  demanded,  his  clerks 
are  likely  to  get  an  idea  that  asking  for  it  is 
what  gets  it  and  they  will  all  be  asking  every 

pay  day. 

"  Another  thing  I  found  out  about  my  help, 
and  that  was  that  while  there  might  be  an  ap- 
parent limit  to  what  I  could  aflford  to  pay  a 
man,  there  never  was  any  actual  limit.  I  never 
had  a  clerk,  no  matter  what  I  paid  him,  to  whom 
I  wouldn't  pay  more  if  he  could  keep  making 
himself  ■  worth  more  money.  The  clerk  who 
gets  to  be  high  man  may  think  he  has  reached 
the  limit  of  salary  in  his  present  position,  but 
let  him  show  that  he  could  increase  his  money 
making   power   and   he   would   get   a   raise   in 

salary. 

"Talking  about  green  clerks,  and  by  that  1 

34 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

mean  clerks  that  haven't  ever  clerked  it  any- 
where,  I'm  on   their   side.     For   quite  a   while 
they're  like  fish  out  of  water.    Even  the  fellow 
who  is  just  a  natural  born  salesman  takes  some- 
time to  get  his  bearing  and  feel  at  home  in  a 
store.     It  looks  easy  to  go  behind  the  counter 
and  hand  out  the  goods  and  put  the  money  in 
the  money  drawer,  but  I  tell  you  many  a  fel- 
low has  found  that  he  couldn't  do  it  right,  even 
after  he  had  been  shown  how.     It's  more  than 
'  one  of  these  simple  stunts  that  are  easy  for  any- 
one after  they  are  explained. 

"You've  got  a  pretty  good  force  here  now 
John,  haven't  you  ?     Who's  the  good  looking  fel- 
low that  seems  to  hang  around  Dolly  Dingle  a 
good  deal?     I  notice  they  always  go  to  dinner 
at  the  same  time." 

"  Oh,  that's  Jerry  Barnard.  You  know  Jerry 
Miss  Dingle  won't  find  him  very  entertaining." 

Tobias  said  nothing  at  this  but  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  he  made  a  mental  reservation.  Barlow 
was  a  little  conceited  when  it  came  to  the  girl 
question  and  he  evidently  thought  that  he  was 
the  only  one  in  the  store  who  could  suitably 
entertain  Dolly  Dingle. 

What  Dolly's  thoughts  in  the  matter  were  was 
not  to  be  found  out  easily  for  girls  have  a  way  of 
keepmg  certain  thoughts  to  themselves  in  spite 

35 


I 

I 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

of  their  general   reputation   for  never  keeping 

a  secret. 

Tobias  noticed  that  Barlow  followed  him  out 
as  far  as  the  ribbon  counter  where  he  stopped 
with  the  pretty  salesgirl  and  apparently  took  up 
his  conversation  right  where  he  had  left  oflF  to 
go  back  to  the  office  with  his  visitor.  This  lit- 
tle incident  had  a  tendency  to  make  the  Old 
Storekeeper  feel  that  perhaps  his  visit  had  been 
an  interruption  and  he  thought  it  very  likely  that 
he  might  not  come  in  again  for  some  time. 


» 


36 


THIRD  TALK 

HOW  RETAIL  ADVERTISING  PAYS 

Henry  Foss  ran  the  only  real  tobacco  store  in 
Hampton  and  while  he  made  money  and  lived 
comfortably  he  felt  that  there  was  no  reason 
why  he  should  not  riiake  more  money.  He  knew 
that  there  was  more  business  he  might  have  if 
he  could  devise  some  way  of  getting  it. 

He  thought  over  the  advertising  ideas  that 
came  to  his  mind  but  he  had  never  done  much 
advertising  and  he  felt  a  little  doubtful  of  its 
value  to  him.  He  was  in  the  same  position  as 
most  merchants  are  who  have  not  given  adver- 
tising a  trial.  He  thought  his  business  was  dif- 
ferent from  everybody  else's  and  that  while  the 
grocer  and  the  druggist  and  the  dry  goods  mer- 
chant might  make  it  pay  well  to  advertise  he 
doubted  if  he  could. 

At  last  he  decided  to  ask  Tobias  Jenkins  what 
he  thought  about  it.  He  called  the  Old  Store- 
keeper in  one  day  as  he  was  passing  and  giving 
him  a  comfortable  chair  and  a  good  cigar  he  told 

Z7 


i 


i 


I 


:.1 
* 


«" 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

him  he  wanted  his  opinion  about  advertising  his 
business. 

"Do  you  want  to  know  what  I  think  about 
your   doing   some   advertising,   Henry?"   asked 

Tobias. 

"  Yes  sir,  I  want  your  advice  about  it." 

"  Well,  ril  tell  you  what  I  think  but  I  give  you 
the  privilege  of  doing  just  as  you've  a  mind  to 
about  it  because  I  know  that  my  advice  doesn't 
get  followed  very  often  and  you  won't  need  to 
make  any  apologies  for  not  following  it. 

"  There  isn't  a  shadow  of  doubt  in  my  mind 
that  you  can  make  your  business  grow  just  as 
sure  by  advertising  as  you  could  if  you  were 
selling  dry  goods.  Anything  that  people  want 
to  buy  can  be  sold  with  good  advertising.  All 
that  advertising  is  is  making  people  want  the 
goods  and  showing  them  where  they  can  buy 
them.  A  lot  of  people  want  your  kind  of  goods 
already  but  are  buying  them  here  and  there 
wherever  it  happens  because  they  don't  know 
that  they  can  buy  them  to  any  better  advantage 
from  you  than  anywhere  else. 

"The  same  rules  that  apply  to  any  kind  of 
retail  advertising  apply  to  yours  and  I'm  going 
to  give  you  a  little  information  along  that  line 
and  let  vou  think  on  it  a  little  and  then  per- 

38 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

haps  some  other  day  I'll  come  in  and  be  more  ex- 
plicit. I  don't  want  to  tell  you  so  much  at  one 
time  that  you  won't  want  to  ever  see  me  again. 

"  One  of  the  first  things  you  want  to  under- 
stand  about   advertising  your  business   is   that 
there's  no  use  in  advertising  a  little  now  and 
then.     These   little   spurts   of    advertising   that 
some  fellows  pull  off  don't  do  much  except  put 
their  money  in  circulation.     You  know  how  it  is 
when  you  start  out  to  row  a  boat  up  the  river 
against   a  pretty  good  current?    Well,   getting 
business  by  advertising  isn't  so  very   different 
from  that.     You  can  set  out  and  row  like  Sam 
Hill  for  a  few  minutes  and  shoot  along  pretty 
good  and  then  you  stop  and  rest  and  back  you 
go  to  where  you  started  from  and  if  you  don't 
get  busy  pretty  quick  you  go  back  down  stream 
below  where  you  started.     Then  you  get  at  the 
oars  and  pull  away  for  a  little  while  again  and 
get  about  as  far  as  you  did  the  first  time  and 
have  to  rest  and  float  back  down  once  more, 
and  as  long  as  you  keep  at  it  that  way  you'll 
just  put  in  your  time  going  up  and  down  right 
in  front  of  your  own  dock  maybe.     If  you'd 
started  out  kind  of  easy  when  you  first  got  into 
the  boat  and  kept  a  steady  pulling  just  hard 
enough  so  that  it  kept  you  moving  up  stream 

39 


1^! 


^  • 


t 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

and  not  hard  enough  so  that  you  had  to  stop 
and  rest,  then  you  would  have  been  away  up  and 
around  the  bend  of  the  river  by  now. 

"  Well,  that's  the  way  advertising  works. 
You've  got  to  keep  grinding  away  at  it  steady 
as  a  clock.  When  you  think  you  have  the  busi- 
ness coming  your  way  and  begin  to  economize 
on  your  advertising  bills,  then  you  begin  to  float 
back  down  again. 

"  No  end  of  merchants  start  in  good  and  strong 
and  stop  for  all  kinds  of  reasons.  Some  get 
cold  feet  and  think  their  advertising  bills  are  too 
big  and  because  nobody  is  coming  in  and  saying 
*  I  came  to  buy  this  because  I  saw  your  adver- 
tisement," they  don't  see  that  the  advertising  is 
paying  them.  Some  are  just  naturally  quitters 
and  can't  keep  at  anything  long  enough  to  suc- 
ceed. And  some  don't  know  how  to  advertise. 
It  doesn't  make  but  mighty  little  difference  why 
a  man  quits  as  long  as  he  does  quit. 

"  In  the  first  place  advertising  doesn't  very 
often  produce  direct,  right  away  results  that  are 
big  enough  to  pay  for  it.  I  never  in  my  life 
ran  a  newspaper  advertisement  that  I  got  enough 
sales  from  that  I  knew  came  from  it  to  pay 
for  it.  But  I  never  did  spend  so  much  money 
on  a  year's  advertising  that  I  couldn't  see  where 
the  business  had  grown  more  than  enough  to 

40 


a 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

pay  the  extra  advertising  bill  out  of  the  extra 
profits. 

"  If  you  go  to  advertising  you  might  as  well 
make  up  your  mind  that  you  won't  have  enough 
people  come  in  and  say  *  I'll  take  a  box  of  those 
Royal  King  cigars  you  advertised  the  other  day ' 
to  pay  for  the  advertisement.    They  won't  come. 

"  But  if  the  advertising  is  any  good  it  will 
bring  business  and  you  will  be  able  to  see  the 
difference  from  month  to  month  —  after  you've 
been  at  it  long  enough  to  begin  to  make  an  im- 
pression on  people.  There  will  be  a  gain  that 
you  can't  lay  to  anything  unless  it  is  the  adver- 
tising. You  can't  see  the  hands  of  the  watch 
move  but  look  at  them  now  and  then  again  ten 
minutes  from  now ! 

"  Good,  classy  advertising  of  the  steady,  never 
let  up  sort  has  got  to  win.  It  isn't  the  fisher- 
man that  goes  thrashing  along  and  fishes  the 
whole  length  of  the  stream  in  an  afternoon  that 
gets  the  most  fish.  Not  by  a  jugful!  It's  the 
quiet  chap  that  finds  a  likely  hole  and  camps 
right  out  beside  it  and  stays  till  he  gets  his  fish. 
And  more  than  this,  the  careful  fisherman  doesn't 
get  discouraged  because  Mister  Fish  doesn't 
snap  the  hook  right  off  on  the  first  cast.  No 
sir.  He  tries  his  bait  and  he  tries  his  flies  and 
he  changes  his  position  and  his  tackle  until  he 

41 


.  i 


't 


t 


'•« 


^ 


Pi 


r  i 


8 


it 

li". 
I* 


It 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

hits  it  right.  If  the  business  doesn't  respond  to 
the  advertising,  change  the  advertising.  Don't 
lay  it  to  the  people  if  your  bait  doesn't  tempt 
them.  They've  got  a  right  to  want  the  kind  of 
cigars  or  the  kind  of  tobacco  that  they  want. 
No  use  getting  sore  because  they  prefer  some 
kind  you  haven't  got.     Get  it. 

*'  One  thing  is  sure.  When  your  business  be- 
gins to  get  sick  and  need  advertising,  see  that  it 
has  it  and  don't  stop  short  of  getting  the  best 
you  can  afford.  When  you  get  a  toothache  don't 
you  go  to  the  dentist  and  don't  you  tell  him 
'  Go  ahead.  Doc.  Get  her  out  and  do  it  quick ! ' 
No  haggling  over  the  price  then. 

"  It's  the  same  with  your  business  when  it 
gets  sick.  Dicker  all  you  want  to  after  you  get 
it  on  its  feet,  if  that's  your  way,  but  for  heaven's 
sake  until  then,  give  it  the  best  doctor  and  the 
best  medicine  you  can  find. 

"  The  fact  that  you  called  me  in  here  and 
asked  me  what  I  think  about  your  advertising 
shows  that  you've  got  an  idea  it  would  pay. 
You're  probably  willing  to  try  it,  but  you  want 
to  be  willing  to  try  it  a  good  while.  I've  known 
men  who  advertised  a  week,  others  that  adver- 
tised a  month  and  some  who  advertised  six 
months  and  got  discouraged  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that   business   was   getting  better.    You   aren't 

42 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

that  kind  of  a  chap  I  know  because  I've  seen 
you  sticking  here  when  business  was  mighty 
slow  coming  and  when  I  didn't  see  how  you 
could  be  making  it  pay.  But  you've  stayed  till 
it  does  pay  and  that  shows  you  aren't  afraid  to 
work  hard  and  take  a  chance.  I  don't  mean  that 
it's  like  taking  a  chance  to  advertise.  It  isn't 
like  buying  a  ticket  in  a  lottery  and  waiting  to 
see  if  you've  happened  to  draw  a  prize.  It's 
like  buying  a  bond  or  a  mortgage  and  then  wait- 
ing for  the  interest  to  come  due.  Advertising 
is  an  investment.  If  it  wasn't,  do  you  suppose 
you'd  see  all  those  pages  in  the  magazines  full  of 
advertisements?  Different?  Not  a  bit.  The 
advertisers  in  those  magazines  are  sticking  right 
there  and  hollering  at  you  for  business  every 
time  just  the  same  as  you've  got  to  stick  in  your 
newspaper  and  holler  at  folks  to  come  and  buy 
from  you.  People  won't  hear  you  if  you  stop 
hollering  and  a  good  many  won't  hear  you  till 
you've  hollered  quite  a  good  many  times.  Folks 
are  amazingly  deaf  when  you're  talking  to  'em 
about  spending  their  money. 

"  You  perhaps  don't  know  much  about  how 
to  advertise.  I  don't  believe  you've  ever  had  any 
experience  in  doing  it.  Well,  you  can't  expect 
that  you  can  pick  it  up  like  picking  up  a  match 
to  light  a  cigar. 

43 


\7      !l' 


if 


H 


f  I 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  People  don't  pick  up  plumbing,  or  cigar  mak- 
ing or  watch  making  that  way.  I  don't  mean  to 
say  that  for  you  to  learn  to  write  your  own  ad- 
vertisements would  be  as  hard  as  for  you  to 
learn  either  of  those  other  jobs.  But  all  the 
same  writing  advertising  isn't  the  cinch  a  lot  of 
people  think  it.  If  you  find  when  you  come  to 
try  it  that  you  can't  write  good  stuff,  you'd  bet- 
ter get  somebody  who  can  to  write  it  for  you 
and  pay  'em  for  the  work  —  for  a  while  anyway 
until  you  get  the  hang  of  it  from  watching  them 
do  it. 

"  Of  course  the  way  to  learn  to  advertise  is 
to  study  advertising  just  as  that's  the  way  to 
learn  anything.  And  the  fellows  who  know  the 
most  about  that  or  anything  else  are  the  fellows 
who  study  it  the  most.  It's  practice  that  makes 
perfect.  The  fellow  who  keeps  working  at  ad- 
vertisement writing  keeps  learning  something  all 
the  time,  especially  if  he  keeps  studying  the  ad- 
vertising of  other  fellows  he  knows  have  made 
a  success  of  it. 

"  Why,  when  I  started  in  advertising  my  store, 
I  used  to  take  a  newspaper  from  the  city  just  to 
study  the  ads  in  it  and  I'd  clip  out  all  the  good 
advertisements  I  saw  and  write  some  for  myself 
almost  like  them,  just  changing  the  reading 
enough  to  make  it  fit  my  store  and  my  goods.     I 

44 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

found  after  I'd  been  copying  other  fellows'  ad- 
vertisements that  way  for  a  while  that  I  could 
sit  down  and  write  off  a  pretty  good  imitation  of 
their  ads  myself. 

"  Of  course  a  fellow's  got  to  begin  at  the  be- 
ginning to  learn  advertising  or  arithmetic  or  any- 
thing. He  ought  to  know  something  about  type. 
You  ought  to  go  right  to  the  printer  who's  going 
to  print  your  advertising  and  tell  him  how  much 
space  you  can  afford  to  use  and  get  him  to  give 
you  a  sample  sheet  or  paper  with  the  names  writ- 
ten on  opposite  the  kinds  of  type  he's  got  in  his 
shop.  Then  you  can  look  them  over  and  pick 
out  the  kind  you  think  will  look  the  best  and 
most  attractive  in  your  space  and  use  it  right 
along  all  the  time.  You  want  a  type  that  will 
stand  out  and  make  people  take  notice  and  you 
want  one  that  will  not  be  like  those  in  the  sur- 
rounding ads.  The  printer  will  tell  you  anything 
you  want  to  know  along  that  line.  He'll  prob- 
ably think  he  knows  a  good  deal  more  about  it 
than  you  do  and  he  may  laugh  at  the  sugges- 
tions you  make  to  him,  but  when  you  get  a  good 
idea  from  somewhere  else,  you  use  it  and  let 
the  printer  laugh  if  he  wants  to. 

"  The  policy  of  a  store  is  pretty  important  and 
I'd  advise  you  to  advertise  your  policy.  You 
want  satisfied  customers  and  the  way  to  make 

45 


I 


' 


It 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

them  satisfied  is  to  sell  them  good  goods  and 
when  they  think  the  goods  aren't  all  that  they 
ought  to  be,  to  give  them  back  their  money. 

"  It's  all  right  to  do  business  that  way  and  just 
doing  it  will  make  friends  and  business  for  the 
store,  but  to  advertise  it  will  make  more  busi- 
ness. It  will  bring  in  people  who  haven't  had 
satisfaction  in  other  stores.  When  a  man  who 
has  just  made  some  unsatisfactory  purchases  at 
your  competitor's  store  sees  your  advertisement 
saying,  '  We  want  satisfied  customers.  If  you 
buy  anything  from  us  that  does  not  turn  out 
just  as  we  said  it  would,  we  are  willing  to  give 
you  back  your  money  if  you  will  ask  for  it,'  then 
that  fellow  is  pretty  likely  to  be  influenced  by  the 
statement  and  you  will  see  him  drop  in  and  buy 
something  and  he'll  keep  on  coming  as  long  as 
everything  is  all  right.  As  like  as  not  he'll  have 
a  chip  on  his  shoulder  and  be  waiting  for  a 
chance  to  see  whether  you  make  good  on  your 
promise  or  not.  Of  course  you  don't  want  to 
advertise  anything  of  that  sort  unless  you  are 
prepared  to  do  as  you  agree. 

"  Let  me  tell  you  about  one  kind  of  advertis- 
ing you  never  ought  to  do.  That's  this  negative 
sort  that  tells  the  people  the  things  you  don't 
do.  Haven't  you  seen  lots  of  ads  that  read 
*  We  don't  sell  trust  goods '  or  we  '  don't  carry 

46 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


anything  but  the  best  so-and-so'?  Well,  the 
moral  is  that  your  customers,  some  of  them  want 
cheap  goods  or  trust  brands  and  you  are  go- 
ing out  of  your  way  to  tell  them  you  don't  carry 
what  they  want  to  buy.  There  may  be  some 
folks  who  will  like  a  store  better  if  it  does  not 
handle  a  trust  article.  If  you  have  such  cus- 
tomers, whisper  the  information  to  them  if  you 
think  they  need  it,  but  don't  hand  it  out  to  the 
general  public  in  a  way  that  will  get  you  in 
bad  with  somebody. 

''  Remember  one  thing  and  that  is  that  you've 
got  to  tell  the  truth  in  your  advertising,  even 
more  than  you  have  to  tell  it  behind  the  counter. 
When  you  lie  to  a  man  once  in  your  advertising, 
you  make  him  doubt  every  advertisement  you 
put  before  him  afterwards.  A  store  has  got 
to  have  the  confidence  of  the  people  no  matter 
what  it  sells.  And  if  the  advertising  is  to  bring 
in  any  business  that  advertising  must  have  the 
confidence  of  the  people  too.  When  you  tell 
the  reader  of  your  advertisement  that  you  are 
offering  a  certain  article  at  a  price  that  is  a  bar- 
gain, it's  up  to  you  to  make  it  a  bargain.  When 
you  say  '  Sterling '  see  that  it  is  sterling. 

*'  The  best  advertising  for  you  to  do  unless  you 
are  the  little  dealer  in  the  big  city,  is  local  news- 
paper advertising.     You  can  buy  a  space  in  our 

47 


i! 


I 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

Hampton  paper,  maybe  five  inches  double  col- 
umn, and  it  will  very  likely  cost  you  a  dollar  an 
issue  and  it  will  reach  some  4,000  readers. 
You  can't  get  to  4,000  people  in  any  other  way 
for  a  dollar.  Of  course  you  are  paying  for  some 
waste  circulation  because  some  subscribers  are 
too  far  away  to  trade  with  you,  but  even  at  that, 
you  are  getting  to  your  possible  customers  the 
cheapest  way. 

"  The  kind  of  advertisements  I  like  best  to 
read  are  the  ones  that  talk  right  to  me  instead 
of  kind  o'  beating  about  the  bush.  I  like  good 
straight  facts  and  figures  that  tell  me  what  I 
want  to  know  about  what  I  want  to  buy.  No 
use  in  filling  an  ad  up  with  a  lot  of  fancy  talk 
any  more  than  there's  any  use  in  filling  it  up 
with  a  lot  of  fancy  figures  and  printer's  doodads. 
When  people  are  thinking  of  spending  their 
money  they  are  thinking  hard  and  close  to  the 
main  point.  These  Fourth  of  July  oration  kinds 
of  advertisments  don't  get  me  coming  to  a  store. 

"Your  advertising  ought  to  tell  people  about 
the  new  things,  the  things  they  are  going  to  buy 
soon,  instead  of  about  the  things  they  bought 
last  week.  I  mean  by  that  that  the  advertising 
ought  not  to  trail  along  behind  the  demand.  For 
instance,  a  big  newspaper  campaign  or  magazine 
campaign  is  opened  up  by  the  manufacturer  of 

48 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

some  brand  that  you  take  on.  You  want  to  be 
telling  your  customers  that  you  have  the  goods 
and  getting  them  interested  before  they  begin 
asking  for  them  instead  of  after  the  demand 
begins.  In  this  way  you  get  them  to  come  to 
you  the  first  time.     Then  they  keep  coming. 

"You  want  to  make  your  advertising  bring 
in  business  for  the  dull  days  and  if  you  are 
going  to  offer  some  pretty  good  specials  it's  a 
mighty  good  plan  to  use  'em  to  brace  up  the 
days  that  wouldn't  pay  expenses  if  you  didn't 
start  something.  Why,  in  the  general  merchan- 
dise business  it  used  to  be  that  there  were  one 
or  two  days  in  the  week  when  nobody  ever 
thought  of  coming  in  to  buy  anything  and  there 
were  about  four  months  in  the  year  when  busi- 
ness stood  still  and  went  fast  asleep.  That's  all 
changed  now.  There's  business  every  day  and 
business  every  month  and  advertising  is  what 
did  the  trick.  There's  nothing  like  it  to  start 
something. 

"Well,  I've  got  to  go  in  and  bother  Barlow 
a  little  while  now  and  see  how  his  affairs  are 
coming  on.  I'll  be  in  and  see  you  again  when  I 
find  out  how  you've  stood  this  dose.     So  long." 


; 


49 


k  ^ 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


I 


"There  used  to  be  months  when  business  stood  and  went 

fast  asleep." 


so 


FOURTH  TALK 

THE  CLOTHES  YOU  WEAR 

Hampton  was  not  a  large  town  and  you  know 
how  it  is  in  these  country  towns  when  a  new 
girl  arrives,  whether  she  is  to  work  in  one  of 
the  stores  or  visit  the  head  of  the  village  Smart 
Set.  All  the  boys  at  once  begin  to  try  to  get 
her  to  notice  them. 

Dolly  Dingle  was  a  marvel  at  minding  her 
own  business.  She  was  in  every  respect  a 
"  peach  "  and  the  young  fellow  who  wanted  her 
to  go  anywhere  with  him  had  to  come  right  up 
to  the  mark  and  ask  her  in  the  way  a  gentleman 
should.  There  was  na  hanging  around  the 
street  and  catching  on  as  she  went  by.  She 
never  seemed  to  see  the  chap  who  was  waiting 
for  just  that  slightly  encouraging  smile  that 
Would  give  him  the  courage  to  come  with  her. 

And  this  attitude  came  pretty  near  being  the 
right  way  to  treat  the  boys  who  seemed  to  think 
that  all  they  had  to  do  to  get  a  girl  was  to  give 
her  a  chance  to  go  to  an  oyster  supper  with 
them. 

51 


r 


I' 


I 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

But  there  was  one  man  whom  Dolly  went  with 
oftener  than  with  any  other  and  strange  to  say 
he  was  the  head  clerk  in  Larry  Benjamin's,  and 
Larry  Benjamin,  as  everybody  knew,  was  the 
only  merchant  in  Hampton  who  came  anywhere 
near  worrying  Barlow  with  his  competition. 

As  Tobias  walked  slowly  downtown  one  even- 
ing just  after  supper  enjoying  the  first  cigar  he 
had  smoked  that  day,  he  saw  Jack  Henderson, 
Larry  Benjamin's  head  clerk,  starting  out  in  the 
best  rubber  tired  runabout  the  village  livery  af- 
forded, and  Dolly  Dingle  by  his  side. 

"  Guess  I'll  drop  in  and  see  how  Barlow  is 
taking  it,''  the  old  merchant  said  to  himself. 

As  he  entered  the  store  and  walked  back  to 
the  office  he  saw  that  the  proprietor  was  buried 
in  his  books  but  did  not  seem  to  be  doing  any- 
thing. Ledger  and  journal  were  open  and  pen 
was  in  his  hand  but  he  was  not  turning  over 
the  pages  or  using  the  pen.  He  did  not  even 
hear  Tobias  coming. 

The  latter  pulled  a  chair  inside  the  railing 
after  him  and  as  Barlow  finally  looked  up  with 
a  semi-scowl,  he  said, 

Pretty  tough,  ain't  it?" 
What  are  you  talking  about?"  asked  Bar- 
low. 

"  I  was  just  sort  o'  thinking  out  loud.     I  meant 

52 


it 


€i 


ii 


ii 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

that  it's  tough  to  have  to  work  for  a  living  when 
everybody  else  seems  to  be  having  a  good  time." 
"  Humph !  "  ejaculated  the  younger  man  and 
went  at  his  books. 

Tobias  made  no  further  remarks  but  puffed 
away  contentedly  at  his  cigar  meanwhile  looking 
Barlow  over  rather  critically.  At  last  the  cigar 
became  too  short  to  smoke  and  he  threw  it 
away,  asking, 

"  Been  working  in  the  cellar  this  afternoon  ?  " 
"  No,"  answered  Barlow  crossly.    "  What  the 
dickens  made  you  think  that  ?  " 

Your  clothes,"  said  Tobias  calmly. 
Well,  what's  the  matter  with  these  clothes? 
Haven't  I  got  to  wear  my  old  clothes  when  I'm 
at  work  ?  " 

"Oh  yes,  of  course,  and  the  older  they  are, 
the  better  you'll  work,  I  suppose.  Now  for  in- 
stance, take  the  work  that  you  do  here  in  the 
store.  You  wait  on  customers  a  good  deal  and 
you  keep  the  books  and  do  quite  a  lot  of  jobs 
like  that  that  call  for  overalls  and  a  jumper  and 
naturally  you  ought  to  wear  'em.  I  was  kind  o' 
surprised  to  see  you  without  'em  on  to  protect 
that  good  old  suit,  that's  all.  I  was  in  Larry 
Benjamin's  the  other  day  and  a  fellow  came  out 
and  waited  on  me  and  he  had  nice  clothes  on, 
all  pressed  up  so  the  creases  showed  and  darned 

53 


I 


h 


I 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

if  he  didn't  make  me  think  I  was  doing  business 
in  a  pretty  classy  store  —  and  you  know  what 
Larry  Benjamin's  is  like?  It  ain't  so  much. 
But  rU  bet  that  fellow  will  spoil  that  suit,  or 
wear  it  out  or  something.  Of  course  it  didn't 
probably  cost  more  than  $15,  but  a  man  ought  to 
be  careful  about  his  clothes  and  make  'em  last. 
You  see,  if  they  last  long  enough  he'll  never 
have  to  buy  any  more." 

''  Go  as  far  as  you  like,"  said  Barlow.  "  Have 
all  the  fun  with  me  you  want  to.  You  must 
think  clothes  grow  on  bushes." 

''  That  suit  you've  got  on  looks  as  if  it  grew 
on  a  bush  and  one  that  was  pretty  far  out  in  the 
woods  at  that." 

For  some  time  nothing  more  was  said.  There 
was  no  sound  but  that  of  the  suspiciously  indus- 
trious pen  scratching  rapidly  along.  At  last 
Barlow  threw  down  the  pen,  swung  around  and 
took  out  a  cigar  and  handed  it  to  Tobias  and  then 

lit  one  for  himself. 

"  Now,"  said  he,  "  what  about  this  clothes 
thing?  I'll  be  the  goat.  Aren't  these  clothes 
all  right  for  work  ?  " 

"Yes,  for  some  kinds,"  said  Tobias.  "But 
I'll  tell  you  what,  I  like  to  see  the  proprietor  of  a 
store  looking  as  if  he  was  making  money.  I 
like  to  see  him  look  like  a  modern  business  man, 

54 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

not  like  a  plumber's  assistant  on  his  job.  Prob- 
ably there  was  a  time  when  people  went  into  a 
store  expecting  to  see  the  merchant  looking  like 
a  hired  man  at  milking  time  but  there  have  been 
just  as  many  improvements  in  some  things  as 
there  have  been  in  others.  All  the  improvements 
in  storekeeping  haven't  been  in  dressing  up  the 
store.  Part  of  them  have  been  in  dressing  up 
the  help  and  the  boss. 

"When  we  can  put  in  fixtures  that  make  it 
possible  to  handle  the  dirty  kinds  of  goods  in  a 
white  duck  suit  and  not  spot  it,  we  make  it  pos- 
sible for  the  fellows  behind  the  counter  to  look 
a  little  more  inviting.  Nobody  prefers  to  do 
business  with  a  man  in  a  dirty  collar  or  ragged 
clothes. 

"  Most  of  your  customers  are  women  and  they 
are  in  the  habit  of  apologizing  when  anybody 
comes  into  their  homes  and  catches  them  in  an 
old  wrapper.  They  don't  think  it's  very  good 
housekeeping  to  be  around  in  an  unattractive  cos- 
tume  at  the  hours  when  people  are  liable  to 
drop  in. 

"  They  are  pretty  apt  to  apply  their  logic  to 
storekeepers.  And  more  than  that,  the  fellow 
that  is  just  downright  unattractive  to  look  at  by 
reason  of  dirt  and  holes  won't  make  the  women 
want  to  come  any  oftener  than  is  necessary.     Of 

55 


M 


i  t 


I  f 


i  ^ 


i 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

course  you  think  you  are  economizing  and  you're 
a  little  sore  because  I  say  anything  about  it  and 
you're  a  little  more  sore  because  that  chap  over 
at  Larry  Benjamin's  has  gone  out  riding  with 
your  Miss  Dingle.  No  explanations  necessary," 
as  Barlow  started  to  speak.  "  I  can  see  as  far 
through  a  stonewall  as  the  next  man. 

"  But,  say,  if  you  wear  that  kind  of  clothes 
around  all  the  time,  you  can't  blame  a  girl  like 
Dolly  Dingle,  excuse  me,  Miss  Dingle,  from  tak- 
ing vip  a  little  with  a  classy  dresser  like  Jack 
Henderson.  There  sure  is  a  fellow  that  knows 
how  to  wear  his  clothes  and  when  to  wear  'em 
too,  for  I'll  bet  that  when  he's  at  work  on  a 
dirty  job  he  knows  enough  to  put  on  the  clothes 
for  it,  but  he  doesn't  regard  selling  goods  as  a 
dirty  job,  and  a  job  is  pretty  apt  to  be  about 
what  we  call  it  at  that. 

"  Pretty  near  the  most  important  thing 
though  about  this  clothes  business  for  you  is  the 
fact  that  the  boss  of  the  store,  if  he  wears  sloppy 
clothes,  is  just  dead  sure  to  find  in  a  little  while 
that  his  clerks  are  getting  to  wearing  them. 
Now  how  can  you  expect  the  boys  to  think  it's 
worth  while  to  dress  up  on  ten  or  twelve  per 
when  the  boss  doesn't  do  it  on  whatever  he  is 
making  out  of  the  whole  shooting  match? 

"  There's  little  Nick  Blish  that  was  the  most 

56 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

finicky  kid  in  the  high  school  the  teachers  tell 
me  and  now  since  he's  been  working  here  he's 
got  so  he  doesn't  polish  his  shoes  except  on  Sun- 
days and  his  collar,  I  noticed  as  I  came  in,  looks 
like  he  belonged  to  the  anti-laundry  league. 

"  Of  course  the  boys  brushed  up  a  little  when 
Miss  Dingle  came  and  some  of  them  will  prob- 
ably keep  it  up.  You  started  in  pretty  well 
yourself,  but  here  you  are  again!  Darned  if  I 
don't  sometimes  think  that  a  girl  will  do  a  man 
more  harm  by  not  paying  much  attention  to  him 
than  she  will  do  him  good  by  being  his  sure 
enough  Honey. 

"  If  I  was  in  business  and  just  about  on  the 
ragged  edge  and  afraid  the  sheriff  would  step 
in  next  week,  do  you  know  what  I'd  do  to 
stand  off  his  coming  and  straighten  things  out 
so  that  people  would  think  everything  was  com- 
ing my  way  and  so  they  would  come  my  way  ?  " 

"  I'm  no  mind  reader,"  said  Barlow  a  little 
dryly. 

"  Well,  you'd  make  money  by  learning  to  be. 
I'd  go  right  out  and  buy  a  new  suit  of  clothes 
the  first  thing,  if  I  had  to  use  my  last  dollar  in 
cash  to  get  possession  of  them,  and  I'd  rig  my- 
self up  so  that  I'd  look  like  old  Mr.  Prosperity 
himself.  And  I  wouldn't  hide  my  light  under  a 
bushel  either.     I'd  get  out  and  hustle   around 

57 


'1     1 


M 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

town  from  one  place  to  another  on  business  and 
give  everyone  a  chance  to  see  those  new  clothes 
right  away.  And  that  little  scheme  with  some 
others  would  make  an  impression  I'll  bet. 

"  People  like  to  do  business  with  a  man  who 
IS  prosperous  and  they  like  to  trade  in  a  pros- 
perous store.     Trade  follows  the  crowd.     You 
can't  make  a  store  look  prosperous  when  the  peo- 
ple who  run  it  look  like  last  year's  birds'  nests 
You  know  the  saying,  *  There  aren't  any  birds 
in  last  year's  nest '  ?     It's  so  near  true  that  no- 
body disputes  it." 
Tobias  waited  for  Barlow  to  speak. 
You  are  a  good  deal  older  than  I,  Mr.  Jen- 
kins, and  I  guess  you  are  pretty  near  right  when 
It  comes  to  points  about  storekeeping,  but  I've 
been  right  here  in  Hampton  long  enough  to  be 
able  to  point  out  to  you  quite  a  bunch  of  fel- 
lows who  have  started  in  as  swell  dressers  and 
finished  as  tin  horn  gamblers  and  paper  sports. 
It  seems  to  me  that  a  man  might  a  good  deal 
better  keep  his  swell  dressing  until  he  has  the 
price  to  do  it  on  his  own  money." 

The  Old  Storekeeper  could  not  but  acknowl- 
edge the  force  of  this  argument  and  he  said, 

"  Of  course,  of  course.  But  just  because  one 
girl  plays  the  piano  till  she  wears  the  first  joints 
off  from  all  of  her  fingers  you  wouldn't  say  that 

58 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

nobody  ought  to  play  the  piano.  A  man's  a  fool 
to  go  to  the  extreme  in  anything  and  if  he  hasn't 
got  sense  enough  to  keep  down  to  proper  limits 
in  dressing  or  in  smoking  or  in  advertising  or 
anything  else,  he'd  better  go  wrong  on  the  side 
of  under-doing  it  rather  than  overdoing  it. 

"You  remember  old  Major  Anderson?  They 
used  to  call  him  ^  Superinduce  Anderson.'  Well, 
he  was  strong  for  the  long  words.  Instead  of 
throwing  one  in  once  in  a  while  where  it  be- 
longed, he  insisted  on  tangling  up  everything 
he  said  with  language  that  seemed  to  be  troubled 
with  too  much  upper  story.  He  used  to  take 
care  of  the  rector's  garden  and  one  day  he  rushed 
into  the  house  where  the  rector's  wife  was  at 
work  and  exclaimed  *  Madam  the  male  hen  has 
escaped  the  paling  and  is  now  roaming  at  large 
in  the  horticultural  enclosure.'  *  What,  Major,' 
the  lady  said,  ^  is  the  rooster  out  ? '  *  That, 
Madam,  is  the  intelligence  I  intended  to  con- 
vey.' 

"  Now  you  see,  don't  you,  that  just  as  soon  as 
a  fellow  goes  to  an  extreme  he  makes  himself 
ridiculous.  I  don't  believe  in  a  fellow  making 
himself  ridiculous  or  making  himself  a  fop  or 
making  a  clothes-horse  of  himself  any  more  than 
you  do,  but  I  don't  believe  either  in  his  spending 
all  his  life  in  fear  that  he  will  offend  one  of  his 

59 


* ), 
'  ■■'■ 


n 


Hi  ^ 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


I. 


.,  t= 


''A  man's  a  fool  to  go  to  the  extreme  in  dressing." 


60 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

creditors  by  wearing  better  clothes  than  that 
fellow  does. 

"  When  a  man  comes  in  here  and  wants  credit 
for  some  household  goods,  are  you  more  apt  to 
trust  him  if  he  wears  good  clothes  or  if  he  is 
the  walking  image  of  the  farmer's  crow  chaser? 
You  can  tell  whether  he  is  a  well  dressed  man 
or  a  pin-head  in  a  new  suit  of  ten-ninety-eight 
clothes  that  he  saved  money  for  by  going  without 
underwear  all  summer." 

"  You  sort  of  think  then  that  I  ought  to  turn 
over  a  new  leaf  ?  "  asked  Barlow. 

"  Well,"  continued  Tobias,  "  it  wouldn't  do  you 
a  bit  of  harm  to  take  the  matter  under  consider- 
ation. *  Spruce  up '  is  a  pretty  darned  good 
motto  for  any  man,  no  matter  how  careful  he 
is.  There  is  always  a  little  chance  for  improve- 
ment and  I'll  say  this  much,  that  whatever  dif- 
ference it  may  make  with  business  to  wear  bet- 
ter looking  clothes  and  to  look  as  if  you  were 
making  something  more  than  enough  to  pay  the 
interest  on  your  debts,  there  isn't  any  doubt  in 
my  mind  that  Miss  Dolly  Dingle  will  be  a  good 
deal  more  proud  to  be  seen  walking  downtown 
with  you  if  you  look  like  the  proprietor  than  she 
will  if  you  look  like  the  janitor  or  the  chore-boy. 

"  It  won't  be  so  easy  for  you  to  get  the  clerks 
back  to  dressing  neatly  as  it  will  be  to  get  your- 

6i 


I    If 


ii 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

self  so.  In  time  they  would  notice  the  differ- 
ence and  be  effected  by  it,  but  you  know  it's  al- 
ways  a  lot  easier  to  influence  people  for  wrong 
than  it  is  to  influence  them  for  right.  You  can 
pull  a  man  down  hill  easier  than  you  can  push 
him  up. 

"  If  I  were  you  I'd  take  the  bull  right  by  the 
horns  and  save  any  delay  and  at  the  same  time 
make  it  easier  to  mention.     A  fellow  hates  to  be 
all   the  time   calling  a   clerk's   attention   to  his 
clothes,  but  if  you  call  the  boys  together  any 
night  after  closing  up  and  say  '  Fellows,  Fm  go- 
ing to  turn  over  a  new  leaf.     You've  probably 
noticed    that    I've    been   going   around    looking 
pretty  sloppy  lately  and  I'm  going  to  put  on  my 
best  suit  of  clothes  and  polish  my  shoes  every 
day  and  see  that  my  collars  and  cuffs  are  always 
clean  and  I  want  to  know  how  many  of  you  will 
join  me  in  this.'    I'll  bet  the  boys  will  all  be  right 
with  you." 

Barlow  made  a  rather  wry  face  as  Tobias 
thus  indirectly  accused  him  of  being  unpleasantly 
untidy,  but  at  last  he  smiled  and  accepted  the  ad- 
vice with  good  grace.  That  is  the  secret  of  the 
success  of  a  good  many  men ;  they  had  the  abil- 
ity to  take  advice. 

Every  man  can  give  advice  and  most  of  us 
like  to  do  it,  but  not  one  in  a  thousand  can  take 

62 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

it  and  profit  by  it.     But  that  one  goes  a  long 
way. 

John  Barlow  was  not  a  remarkable  fellow  in 
most  ways  and  he  did  not  like  to  have  his  faults 
brought  to  his  attention  much  better  than  you 
or  I  may  like  it,  but  he  had  grown  used  to  Tobias' 
ways  and  the  older  man  had  made  his  advice 
valuable  and  almost  necessary  to  the  younger. 
John  was  wise  enough  to  realize  that  however 
bad  the  medicine  might  taste  at  times,  it  cer- 
tainly did  him  good  and  when  he  took  it  it  al- 
ways proved  to  be  the  right  thing,  and  when  he 
did  not  take  it  the  result  generally  showed  to 
his  disadvantage. 

The  business  on  this  particular  evening 
amounted  to  very  little  as  no  one  seemed  to  be 
out  shopping  and  there  had  been  no  call  for 
Barlow  in  the  front  as  he  sat  and  listened  to 
Tobias.  At  last  however  there  came  a  little 
rush  and  the  merchant  had  to  excuse  himself  and 
Tobias  could  not  help  but  notice  that  he  glanced 
rather  uneasily  at  himself  in  the  mirror  as  he 
started  for  the  front  of  the  store. 

The  older  man  smiled  a  little  to  himself  as  he 
got  up  and  re-lit  his  cigar  and  wandered  toward 
the  front  door.  He  stood  outside  in  the  door- 
way for  some  time  and  at  last  closing  time  came 
and  he  heard  Barlow  inside  asking  the  boys  if 

63 


I 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

they  would  mind  staying  five  minutes  as  he 
wanted  to  talk  to  them  a  little  about  something 
that  he  had  on  his  mind. 

As  he  heard  this,  Tobias  smiled  again  and  sat 
down  on  the  front  steps  to  wait  for  Barlow. 

After  about  fifteen  minutes  the  clerks  came  out 
and  went  home  and  right  after  them  came  their 
employer.     Tobias  got  up  and  said, 

"  I  heard  you  ask  one  of  the  boys  to  stay  and 
I  had  some  curiosity  to  know  what  they  would 
say.     Did  they  take  up  with  your  suggestion  ?  " 

"  Yes,  they  all  agreed  that  they  might  improve 
upon  their  appearance  without  much  trouble. 
They  admitted  that  I  had  been  looking  pretty 
tacky,  too,  lately  and  that  didn't  help  my  pride 
any,  but  you  didn't  leave  me  much  of  that  when 
you  got  through  so  I  didn't  feel  sore  about  it  at 
all.  I  thought  that  I  might  as  well  take  your 
advice  right  away  because  if  there  is  any  ad- 
vantage in  looking  better  I  might  as  well  begin 
to  get  it  to-morrow  as  to  wait  a  week  or  a 
month." 

They  were  walking  leisurely  up  the  street  and 
at  this  juncture  Tobias  turned  his  corner  re- 
marking, "And  then,  the  sooner  you  look  bet- 
ter, the  sooner  Dolly  Dingle  will  be  proud  to 
walk  down  the  street  with  you  instead  of  with 
Jack  Henderson.'^ 

64 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

Barlow  made  no  response  to  this  and  the 
absence  of  any  denial  may  have  meant  assent  or 
not.  In  either  case  Tobias  would  not  have 
changed  his  opinion. 


65 


'<:%'      1 


••E 


{• 


I      I 


FIFTH  TALK 


HANDLING   THE    MONEY 


In  the  village  of  Hampton  most  of  the  stores 
kept  open  for  a  little  while  on  the  forenoon  of  a 
holiday  like  Thanksgiving  day  but  closed  up  at 
noon  or  a  little  before  for  the  rest  of  the  day. 

Barlow  had  told  the  clerks  that  they  need 
none  of  them  work  on  this  day  and  he  himself 
had  only  gone  down  and  opened  the  store  at 
about  nine  o'clock  in  order  that  he  might  be 
there  to  accommodate  any  stray  customer  who 
perhaps  was  really  in  need  of  something  in  the 
line. 

It  was  about  eleven  o'clock  and  he  was  just 
thinking  about  locking  the  door  and  going  home 
when  the  Old  Storekeeper  wandered  in  as  if 
looking  for  a  place  to  loaf  for  a  little  while  and 
Barlow  took  advantage  of  the  situation  to  talk 
to  him. 

"  Mr.  Jenkins,"  said  he,  *'  I  haven't  a  thing  to 
do  or  a  place  to  go  till  dinner-time.  Come  on 
back  and  let's  have  a  visit." 

66 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  I  guess  you  know,  son,  that  when  you  say 
'  visit '  to  me,  you  strike  right  into  my  long  suit," 
said  Tobias.  ''  I'm  the  champion  long  distance 
visitor  of  this  little  berg  all  right.  My  family 
is  getting  the  Thanksgiving  dinner  ready  and 
they  don't  want  me  around  home  so  I'm  sort  of 
on  the  town  for  a  while." 

"  My  case  exactly,"  said  Barlow.  "  My 
mother  doesn't  need  any  of  my  help  in  getting 
up  a  dinner  and  there  isn't  a  thing  to  do  out- 
side on  a  raw  day  like  this.  Beside  I  want  to 
talk  to  you  about  something  that  is  pretty  im- 
portant to  me.  I'm  trying  to  make  up  my  mind 
to  put  in  some  new  kind  of  a  system  of  handling 
the  store  money  and  I  can't  decide  what  to  do. 
What  would  you  do  ?  " 

''  Well  now,"  Tobias  answered,  "  that's  a 
pretty  flat  question.  I  don't  know  as  I  want  to 
stand  or  fall  on  a  single  answer  recommending 
some  kind  of  a  plan.  It's  a  good  deal  like 
asking  a  man  if  he's  stopped  beating  his  wife 
and  making  him  answer  yes  or  no.  If  I  tell 
you  what  kind  of  a  cash  handling  system  to  use 
and  it  falls  down,  then  I  lose  my  reputation,  and 
if  it  makes  good,  you  think  it's  because  you  han- 
dle it  so  well.  I  can't  win  any  way  you  work  it. 
Ask  me  something  easier." 

Barlow  insisted  however  that  he  was  in  earn- 

67 


'I 

•u 


]-l 


fi! 


i  I 


|i 


I 


'I 


I 


i 
i 

T.     i 


I 


r 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

est  and  that  he  wanted  the  advice  of  Tobias  and 
that  he  would  not  hold  him  responsible  in  any 
event. 

*'  What's  the  matter  with  the  old  money 
drawer  ? "  asked  the  Old  Storekeeper  finally. 
*'  I  always  used  one  and  I  made  quite  a  little 
money,  didn't  I?  Aren't  you  getting  a  little 
highfalutin'?" 

There  was  an  almost  imperceptible  smile 
around  his  eyes  as  he  put  this  question.  Tobias 
was  evidently  disposed  to  try  out  the  younger 
man  and  see  what  made  him  want  a  different 
cash  system. 

Barlow  responded  with  queries  of  his  own. 

*'  You  always  used  folded  wrapping  paper  and 
you  sold  all  your  crackers  out  of  a  barrel  and 
you  went  home  to  see  what  your  wife  wanted 
instead  of  telephoning,  too,  didn't  you?  Is  that 
a  sign  that  roll  wrapping  paper  isn't  a  conven- 
ience, that  package  crackers  aren't  easier  to  han- 
dle, and  that  it  isn't  a  good  deal  quicker  to  tele- 
phone than  to  walk  ?  " 

''  In  other  words,  just  because  I  was  old 
fashioned  enough  to  use  an  open  and  shut  money 
drawer  it  isn't  any  sign  that  better  ways  haven't 
been  invented  since  ?     Is  that  the  idea  ?  " 

Barlow  nodded  with  a  grin.  '*  That's  about 
it,"  said  he. 

68 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  Well,  John,  I  guess  you^re  right.  It  wasn't 
old  fashioned  though  in  those  days  to  put  your 
money  into  a  sliding  box  that  had  a  bunch  of 
keys  under  it  that  were  supposed  to  make  it 
hard  to  open.  It  was  the  best  thing  yet  invented. 
But  I  don't  believe  in  standing  still  and  I  must 
confess  that  I  have  sometimes  wondered  why 
you  haven't  been  looking  after  the  money  end 
as  well  as  the  other  parts  of  the  business. 

"  I  just  believe  that  there's  a  whole  lot  of 
money  goes  wrong  or  doesn't  go  at  all  in  han- 
dling the  business  of  a  store.  It  stands  to  reason 
that  everybody  connected  with  the  store  is  go- 
ing to  forget  once  in  a  while,  and  as  far  as  I've 
noticed  nobody  ever  forgets  so  that  the  store 
makes  more  money  by  it.  Every  time  anybody 
forgets  it  takes  something  out  of  the  profits. 

*^  Now,  I'm  just  as  careful  as  anybody.  When 
I  was  running  this  store  I  was  right  on  the  job 
every  minute  and  I'll  be  darned  if  there  weren't 
one  or  two  men  who  were  always  telling  me, 
when  they  settled  their  bills,  about  something 
they'd  bought  that  I  hadn't  charged.  You  know 
how  it  is.  There  are  customers  who  always 
seem  to  get  in  on  all  the  mistakes  you  make.  If 
the  goods  are  delivered  wrong,  they're  the  ones 
who  don't  get  their  order.  If  the  new  brand 
you've  guaranteed  falls  down  with  anvbody  it 

69 


\i 


I 


V 


if 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

falls  down  with  them.  If  there  is  an  over- 
charge, or  a  shortage  of  goods,  they  get  it. 
Well,  I  can  remember  three  customers  at  least 
who  were  always  finding  something  wrong  with 
their  bills  and  quite  often  it  was  that  they'd  had 
goods  that  weren't  on  the  bill.  That  shows  they 
were  honest  people  anyway,  but  it  doesn't  show 
that  I  never  forgot  to  charge  things  that  other 
families  bought.  If  I  forgot  for  one,  I  had 
the  same  chance  of  forgetting  for  all  and  I  did 
it  too.  And  if  I  did  it,  anxious  as  I  was  to  get 
the  money,  you  can  bet  that  the  boys  did  it. 

"  And  I  made  other  mistakes.  I  made  mis- 
takes in  giving  folks  too  much  change.  Some- 
times they  told  me  but  I  am  sure  that  sometimes 
they  didn't.  I  took  out  money  to  buy  things 
for  myself  and  didn't  set  it  down.  Of  course 
it  was  all  my  money,  but  then  if  a  man's  going 
to  know  what  his  business  is  doing,  he  doesn't 
want  money  going  out  or  coming  in  that  isn't 
set  down  —  and  he  doesn't  want  any  going  out 
that  he  doesn't  know  about.  You've  had  a  lit- 
tle experience  of  that  sort  yourself  and  you 
know  that  there  are  such  things  as  dishonest 
clerks.*' 

"  Yes,"  said  Barlow.  "  That  was  certainly  a 
surprise  to  me  to  know  that  that  boy  would  take 
my  money." 

70 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  Well,  it  needn't  have  been  a  surprise  to  you 
to  find  out  that  if  you  left  your  money  lying 
around  loose  somebody  would  take  it.  I  be- 
lieve in  the  honesty  of  the  average  man  all  right. 
I'm  no  pessimist,  but  I  know  mighty  well  that 
it's  temptation  that  makes  folks  go  wrong  and 
it  stands  to  reason  that  the  oftener  and  the  more 
they're  tempted,  the  oftener  and  the  more  they'll 
go  wrong. 

"  Now  I'm  going  to  say  something  that  you 
won't  agree  with  me  in.  I'm  going  to  say  that 
when  you  keep  the  store  cash  in  a  common  money 
drawer  that  can  be  opened  by  any  clerk  in  the 
store,  you  are  leaving  your  money  around  loose 
during  business  hours  just  the  same  as  if  you 
piled  it  on  a  shelf  back  of  the  counter." 

Oh,  I  don't  think  that  at  all,"  said  Barlow. 
Of  course  you  don't.  If  you  did  you 
wouldn't  do  it,  and  anyway  I  said  you  wouldn't 
agree  with  me.  But  look  here!  You  people 
here  take  in  money  and  put  it  into  a  drawer 
without  any  record  of  it  at  all  except  the  money 
itself.  Think  of  the  things  you  don't  know  — 
or  probably  it  would  be  easier  to  count  up  the 
little  you  do  know.  All  you  know  is  that  when 
you  count  up  the  money  it  comes  to  so  much. 
You  don't  know  what  mistakes  have  been  made, 
how  much  money  has  not  been  put  in,  how  much 

71 


« 


if 


if!     f 


if 


,   ' 


h. 


"\ 


i 


i 


!  .' 


h 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

has  been  taken  out,  how  many  people  have  been 
given  too  much  or  too  little  change.  You  don't 
know  a  darned  thing  that  you  ought  to  know 
in  order  to  keep  careful  track  of  your  business. 

"  I  haven't  anything  to  say  about  the  possible 
dishonesty  of  your  clerks.  Pretty  nearly  every 
man  has  at  least  one  dishonest  hair  in  his  head. 
I  have  some  and  you  have  some.  We  all  have. 
The  public  in  general  doesn't  find  out  about  it. 
You  won't  show  me  yours  and  I  won't  show  you 
mine,  but  they're  there.  You  found  that  out 
when  you  thought  every  clerk  in  your  store  was 
honest  as  the  day  was  long  while  there  was  one 
who  was  putting  your  profits  into  his  pocket. 
Most  of  us  can  keep  our  inclination  to  dishonesty 
under  control,  but  the  oftener  we're  tempted  to 
let  it  go,  the  more  likely  we  are  to  do  it.  You've 
got  a  good  lot  of  boys  here  in  the  store  —  oh  yes, 
and  one  girl  too.  I  nearly  forgot.  I  wouldn't 
think  of  accusing  any  of  them  of  dishonesty 
any  more  than  you  ought  to  think  of  tempting 
them  to  be  dishonest. 

"  But  there  are  things  to  consider  in  han- 
dling your  money  besides  the  mere  possibility 
of  some  of  it  being  stolen.  If  we're  going  to 
talk  about  what  kind  of  a  cash  system  is  the 
best  for  you  to  use,  we  might  as  well  go  about  it 
in  a  logical  kind  of  way  and  consider  a  little. 

72 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  The  old  wooden  money  drawer  with  the  joke- 
lock  on  it  you  admit  isn't  good  enough  for  you. 
You  admit  that  it  doesn't  deliver  the  goods  it's 
supposed  to  deliver,  for  divers  and  sundry  rea- 
sons. Now  the  question  is  what  will  deliver  the 
money  and  deliver  it  all  and  in  addition  show 
you  all  about  where  you  got  it,  who  took  it  in 
and  so  on  ?  " 

"  I'd  thought,"  said  Barlow,  ''  that  one  of 
these  filing  cases  with  every  credit  customer  hav- 
ing a  separate  space  and  carbon  copies  of  every- 
thing made  at  the  time  of  the  sale  would  be  a 
pretty  good  thing  for  my  credit  sales." 

"I'll  tell  you  one  thing,"  said  Tobias.  "If 
you  mean  one  of  these  schemes  that  leaves  at 
my  house  with  every  lot  of  goods  a  dirty  little 
yellow  sheet  of  paper  with  a  black  back  to  it  that 
gets  my  hands  all  black  every  time  I  touch  it, 
count  me  off  your  credit  list.  I'll  pay  cash  first. 
Why  one  merchant  in  this  town  that  we  buy  pro- 
visions from  leaves  one  of  those  things  with 
every  lot  of  goods  and  then  the  first  of  the 
month  he  comes  around  with  another  little  black- 
backed  sheet  that  says  on  it,  $4.56,  or  some  other 
amount  and  that's  practically  all  it  does  say  be- 
side my  name.  The  fellow  who  brings  it  in  says 
it's  a  bill  and  I  have  to  pay  it.  What's  it  for? 
I  ask.     He  tells  me  that  he's  left  the  bills  hang- 

73 


\ 


t , 


V 


'A 


i 


"i 


J    i 


' ;'; 


r  , 


1^ 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

ing  on  a  hook  inside  the  kitchen  when  he  took 
the  goods  up.  I  don't  believe  that  he  did  more 
than  half  the  time,  but  even  if  he  did  I  don't 
propose  to  do  his  book-keeping  for  him  and  go 
out  in  my  kitchen  every  day  and  ask  the  cook 
for  the  latest  bunch  of  provision  bills.  Why, 
if  all  the  merchants  here  did  business  on  that 
plan,  I  would  have  to  hire  a  book-keeper  to  keep 
me  posted  on  what  I  was  paying  for,  so  that  I'd 
have  some  idea  of  whether  I  was  getting  my  own 
or  somebody  else's  slips  on  the  hook.  Get  the 
hook  for  that  scheme  anyway." 

"  I'd  never  thought  of  it  in  just  that  way," 
said  Barlow.  "  It's  a  very  convenient  scheme  in 
some  ways  for  the  merchant." 

"  Oh  yes,  no  doubt.  But  it  makes  an  awfully 
queer  set  of  books.  I  know  a  man  who's  got 
one  of  these  big  boxes  in  his  store  with  a  set 
of  accounts  in  it  and  he's  worried  to  death  all 
the  time  for  fear  the  store  will  burn  and  he'll  lose 
the  accounts.  He  can't  put  the  thing  in  the 
safe  and  it's  just  about  as  fireproof  as  that  little 
tin  cash  box  that  I  used  to  lug  back  and  forth 
night  and  morning  with  my  currency  and  bills 
in.  You  want  your  accounts  in  such  shape  that 
you  can  keep  them  in  the  safe. 

"  Now,  I've  given  this  thing  some  thought  off 
and  on  and  I'll  just  name  over  to  you  some  of 

74 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

the  disadvantages  that  your  cash  system  mustn't 
possess.  Some  of  them  go  with  one  kind  of  a 
plan  and  some  with  another.  I  won't  go  into 
details  about  them  because  you  can  understand 
them  without.  Here  they  are.  It  mustn't  be 
slow.  It  mustn't  increase  mistakes.  It  mustn't 
permit  dishonesty  or  theft.  It  mustn't  be  ex- 
pensive to  operate.  It  mustn't  be  slow  to  bal- 
ance up  at  night.  It  musn't  leave  any  more  to 
the  clerk  than  is  necessary;  a  machine  makes 
less  mistakes  than  a  person.  It  mustn't  produce 
a  record  of  only  part  of  the  sales.  It  mustn't 
get  out  of  order.  It  mustn't  necessitate  goods 
and  money  and  sales  slip  and  everything  else 
going  off  somewhere  out  of  sight  of  the  cus- 
tomer to  stay  anywhere  from  ten  minutes  to 
half  an  hour  while  the  customer  can't  do  any- 
thing but  wonder  and  get  hot  under  the  collar. 
It  mustn't  make  it  possible  for  customers  to  walk 
out  without  paying  for  their  purchases  as  they 
can  do  pretty  easily  sometimes  when  they  are 
supposed  to  go  to  a  cashier  and  settle.  It 
shouldn't  make  it  necessary  to  count  up  the 
money  any  time  of  day  when  it's  desirable  to 
know  how  much  business  has  been  done.  It 
shouldn't  be  merely  a  cash  system  but  it  ought 
to  be  a  complete  credit  system  as  well.  In  some 
stores  to  make  a  cash  sale  takes  one  system. 

75 


; 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

To  make  a  credit  sale  takes  another.  To  make  a 
check  or  coupon  for  the  customer  takes  still 
another.  I  don't  know  how  many  faults  there 
are  that  a  cash  handling  system  may  have  but 
I  guess  about  a  hundred  thousand.  It's  gen- 
erally easy  to  find  flaws  in  anything." 

'^That's  all  right,  Mr.  Jenkins,  but  I  don't 
see  that  it  brings  me  any  nearer  to  what  I  want 
to  know.  Suppose  you  go  ahead  now  and  tell 
me  what  advantages  I  want  in  a  cash  handling 
system,  what  it  ought  to  do.  I  would  like  some 
kind  of  a  plan  that  will,  as  you  say,  get  every- 
thing, all  kinds  of  sales,  under  one  cover  and 
one  operation.  I  don't  suppose  I  can  get  every- 
thing I  want  in  any  one  plan,  but  tell  me  what 
I  want  and  then  if  I  can  find  some  system  that 
covers  what  you  say,  I'll  be  all  right,  and  anyway 
I  can  probably  find  the  one  that  comes  nearest 
to  it." 

*'  Well,  I  don't  know  all  the  advantages  yoti 
want,  but  I  guess  I  can  name  off  more  than 
you'll  find  in  any  one  system.  I  don't  believe 
there's  a  plan  or  a  system  or  a  machine  made  that 
will  do  everything.  If  there  is,  you  get  it  to- 
morrow. You  want  protection  from  dishonest 
clerks  —  yes  you  do,  whether  you  have  them  or 
not.  You  may  have  them  sometime  and  the 
time  to  put  in  a  system  is  now,  not  when  a  new 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

clerk  comes  in.  You  want  to  make  it  neces- 
sary for  the  clerk  to  make  a  record  of  every 
business  transaction,  then  it  will  be  a  habit  and 
he  won't  forget  to  make  charges  for  goods  not 
paid  for.  And  if  there  is  a  record  of  every 
transaction,  you  will  know  what  happens  while 
you  are  out  or  when  you  don't  happen  to  be 
looking.  If  you  can  put  a  mechanical  watch  on 
the  boys  to  pick  out  and  show  up  their  mis- 
takes, they  won't  make  so  many  of  them  and 
you  won't  make  so  many  yourself.  They  can 
be  corrected  and  charged  up  to  the  right  source. 

"  You  want  to  be  able  to  tell  who  makes  the 
mistakes  if  they  are  made.  You  want  a  sys- 
tem that  will  prevent  disputes  between  the  clerk 
and  the  customer.  You  want  something  that 
won't  keep  the  customer  waiting.  I  wouldn't 
do  business  a  minute  in  one  of  these  stores  where 
a  fellow  has  to  cool  his  heels  for  a  quarter  of 
an  hour  while  they  get  his  change  ready  for  him. 
A  man  likes  to  step  in  and  buy  and  step  right 
out  again.  Nix  on  your  long  distance  money 
drawer  for  mine. 

"  The  clerks  will  make  mistakes  enough  any- 
way so  that  you  don't  want  a  system  that  makes 
mistakes  itself.  You  want  to  do  as  much  as 
you  can  by  machinery.  It  is  the  human  ele- 
ment that  falls  down  and  that  makes  the  mis- 

17 


II 


1 1^ 


1  i 

1-1 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

takes  that  cause  trouble.  The  machine  generally 
works  all  right.  It's  the  man  who  forgets  or 
who  looked  the  other  way  for  a  minute  that 
causes  the  railroad  accidents.  The  engine  runs 
all  right.  If  you  could  reduce  your  cash  system 
to  a  plan  that  left  the  clerk  nothing  to  do  but 
to  push  a  button  you  would  get  rid  of  a  whole 
lot  of  mistakes.  The  simpler  the  work  and  the 
more  regular,  the  more  nearly  the  same  for  every 
transaction,  the  less  chance  of  mistakes. 

"If  you  want  to  keep  the  clerks  honest,  put  a 
check  on  them.  Make  it  necessary  that  every 
time  they  take  in  money  they  make  a  record  that 
can  be  seen  by  the  customer  and  that  you  can 
see  if  you  want  to.  When  it  is  left  for  the 
clerk  to  write  something  in  a  book  or  somewhere 
else  if  he  happens  to  think  of  it  and  wants  to, 
it's  left  for  him  to  do  pretty  darned  near  as  he 
pleases. 

"  You  don't  want  to  bother  with  any  cashier. 
You  never  know  when  you're  getting  one  that's 
all  right,  and  anyway  a  good  cashier  who  won't 
make  mistakes  costs  money  and  doesn't  act  as 
any  correction  on  the  clerks  because  all  she  can 
tell  about  a  transaction  is  what's  on  the  slip  that 
comes  to  her.  She  can't  be  a  mind  reader  —  not 
at  the  price  you  could  afford  to  pay.  You  see, 
it  doesn't  cost  anything  to  have  the  clerks  make 

78 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


€€ 


They  are  supposed  to  go  to  the  cashier  and  settle," 


79 


M  / 


i 


il  ' 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

their  own  change  and  it  costs  wages  of  one  ex- 
tra and  takes  up  more  of  everybody's  time  to 
use  a  cashier. 

"Suppose  you  take  a  scheme  that  makes  it 
necessary  for  the  customer  to  go  and  pay  a 
cashier  before  leaving  the  store.  Suppose  the 
customer  buys  from  two  or  three  different  clerks 
and  gets  a  sales  slip  from  each  one.  Who's  go- 
ing to  know  that  the  customer  pays  more  than 
one  of  the  sales  slips  ?  I  beh'eve  that  customers 
are  mainly  honest,  but  I  want  to  tell  you,  John, 
that  there  are  a  few  who  aren't  honest  and  if 
you  get  a  plan  they  can  beat,  you'll  get  all  of 
their  trade  and  it  won't  make  any  money  for  you 
either. 

"  A  cashier  can  just  about  skin  you  out  of  all 
the  profit  of  the  business  if  she  wants  to  do 
it.  You  can't  stand  over  a  cashier  every  minute. 
You  might  as  well  be  cashier  yourself  as  to  do 
that.  You  can't  spend  all  your  time  hanging 
around  watching  to  see  whether  the  clerks  use 
your  cash  system  right  or  not.  You've  got  to 
have  something  that  works  right  along  whether 
you're  there  or  not. 

"The  more  business  you're  doing,  the  more 
the  clerks  are  rushed,  the  more  chances  for  mis- 
takes unless  you  get  a  system  that  is  pretty 
nearly  all  automatic  and  doesn't  leave  anything 

80 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

for  the  clerk  to  do  but  to  act  as  a  kind  of  con- 
necting link  between  the  customer  and  the  place 
for  the  money. 

"  I  don't  want  to  spoil  anybody's  business  on 
cash  registers  but  one  kind  of  a  system  I  wouldn't 
have  and  that's  one  of  these  fancy,  expensive 
oak  money  drawers  with  a  desk  top  with  a 
pad  on  it  or  a  roll  of  paper  feeding  under  a 
glass  lid  where  the  clerk  is  supposed  to  write 
down  things  that  people  buy.  Why,  that's  noth- 
ing in  the  world  but  a  money  drawer  with  a 
blank  book  attached.  You  can  fix  up  that  same 
thing  by  just  laying  a  pad  down  by  your  old 
money  drawer  there  and  telling  the  boys  to  write 
down  in  it  what  they  sell.  Instead  of  paying 
out  twenty-five  dollars  or  more  for  the  scheme, 
it  won't  cost  you  more  than  ten  cents  for  a 
couple  of  pads.  That  system,  if  it  is  a  system, 
has  all  the  disadvantages  of  your  old  money 
drawer  plan  and  the  additional  one  that  it  will 
take  about  twice  or  three  times  as  long  to  finish 
up  a  transaction.  Whatever  you  get,  see  that  it 
has  advantages  over  the  old  way  all  along  the 
line. 

**  Right  in  connection  with  your  cash  system 
you  want  a  nice  working  credit  system.  You 
want  them  working  right  together  so  that  when 
a  clerk  makes  a  credit  sale  he  has  to  go  through 

81 


r 


ii: 


:■ 


5  ! 


il    I 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

just  about  the  same  motions  that  he  does  when 
he  makes  a  cash  sale.  You  want  a  credit  sys- 
tem that  will  make  it  easy  to  tell  how  much 
any  man  owes  you  without  delay.  You  want  one 
that  keeps  all  accounts  separate  and  plainly 
labelled  and  one  that  doesn't  show  all  the  books 
of  the  firm  to  any  customer  who  happens  to 
want  to  see  his  account.  And  if  you  want  a 
system  that  makes  it  absolutely  certain  that  when 
anybody  pays  on  account  their  account  is  going 
to  get  proper  credit  for  the  payment,  no  matter 
whether  they  pay  the  clerk  at  the  counter,  the 
boy  on  the  delivery  wagon  or  someone  who  goes 
out  to  the  curb  as  the  customer  drives  up. 

"  You  want  a  credit  system  that  keeps  a  per- 
manent record  of  every  transaction  and  that 
doesn't  leave  you  with  nothing  to  go  by  after 
the  bill  has  been  paid.  Every  once  in  a  while 
there  is  occasion  to  go  behind  the  returns.  You 
want  protection  and  convenience  for  yourself,  for 
your  customers  and  for  your  clerks.  You  want 
some  kind  of  a  plan  that  makes  it  easy  to  keep 
track  of  how  much  people  owe  you  so  that  you 
won't  let  their  accounts  get  too  big  and  so  that 
you  can  send  them  bills  often.  If  you  can't  get 
a  credit  system  that  gives  you  all  these  advan- 
tages, you  might  better  go  on  a  cash  basis.  Half 
of  the  troubles  of  the  credit  method  of  doing  busi- 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

ness  are  due  more  to  the  way  accounts  are  kept 
and  handled  than  to  the  fact  that  there  are  ac- 
counts. If  you  have  the  right  kind  of  a  credit 
system,  the  credit  basis  will  get  you  more  busi- 
ness than  the  cash  basis  in  pretty  nearly  every 
case. 

"  There's  just  one  more  view  of  this  thing  that 
I  want  you  to  take  and  that  is  this.  You  want 
a  system  that  will  make  you  pay  for  everything 
that  you  yourself  take  out  of  stock  in  goods  and 
that  will  make  it  necessary  for  you  yourself  to 
make  a  record  of  it  when  you  take  money  out 
of  the  drawer.  You  may  say  that  it's  all  yours 
anyway  and  that  it  doesn't  matter,  but  I  want 
to  tell  you  that  it  does  matter  a  whole  lot  in 
a  way  you  haven't  thought  of.  If  your  clerks 
see  you  taking  goods  and  money  when  you  want 
them  and  making  no  record  of  it,  you  will  be 
setting  them  an  example  that  you  don't  want 
followed.  Of  course  it's  perfectly  honest  for 
you  to  help  yourself  to  your  own  and  it's  per- 
fectly dishonest  for  them  to  help  themselves 
to  it.  But  all  the  same  there  is  an  influence 
even  in  that  apparently  harmless  habit  that  has 
helped  before  now  to  make  a  clerk  dishonest. 
And  then,  further,  if  you  take  goods  out  of 
stock  as  you  want  them  and  make  no  entry  or 
payment  of  the  transaction,  you  will  very  likely 

83 


in  f 


11^^ 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

effect  your  business  statement  for  the  year  a 
hundred  or  two  hundred  dollars  in  its  accuracy. 
And  to  take  money  out  of  the  money  drawer 
without  charging  it  up  to  yourself  is  the  worst 
kind  of  business. 

"  If  I  were  to  talk  to  you  all  the  afternoon 
about  this  business  I  wouldn't  get  it  all  said. 
You  think  over  what  I've  told  you.  I  don't 
know  of  any  perfect  money  handling  system. 
Perfection  isn't  human  and  you  don't  find  any 
of  it  in  business,  but  when  you  find  the  thing 
that  comes  the  nearest  to  it,  get  it  and  get  it 
quick,  because  if  it's  a  good  thing  to  have  and 
a  money  saver,  the  sooner  it  begins  to  work  for 
you,  the  sooner  it  will  begin  to  declare  dividends. 
Now  I've  got  to  go  and  get  the  ice  cream  and 
take  it  home  for  dinner.     I'll  see  you  again." 

Barlow  himself  stayed  behind  in  the  store  to 
think  and  figure  over  what  Tobias  had  told  him. 


84 


SIXTH  TALK 


111 


SPECIAL   NEWSPAPER   ADVERTISING 

Henry  Foss  was  sweeping  the  pavement  in 
front  of  his  store  one  morning  when  the  Old 
Storekeeper  came  along  and  accosted  him. 

"  Henry,  come  into  your  emporium  and  sell 
me  a  quarter's  worth  of  those  same  Rappahanna 
Stinkadoras  that  you  gave  me  yesterday.  That's 
a  pretty  fair  cigar  considering  the  store  that 
sells  it." 

**  Didn't  I  tell  you  that  was  a  good  one  ? " 
replied  Henry  undisturbed  by  the  slanderous 
name  bestowed  upon  his  leading  ten  center.  "  I 
know  the  man  that  makes  those  cigars.  He 
comes  pretty  near  being  onto  his  job.  There's 
stock  in  those  smokes,  believe  me." 

"  Why  don't  you  sell  more  of  'em  then  ? " 
asked  Tobias.  "  It's  a  long  time  since  I've 
bought  as  good  a  cigar  as  that  here  in  Hampton 
—  or  anywhere  else  for  that  matter." 

"  Well,  I  ain't  refusing  to  sell  'em  to  anyone 
that  wants  to  buy,  am  I  ?  " 

85 


i 


I 


i^i 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


':i     U 


"A   hatter  can't  leave  a  sample  line  of  hats  for  his 
'         customer  to  pick  from," 


86 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  No,  I  don't  suppose  you  are,  but  you  ought  to 
advertise  them  and  get  up  a  nice  trade  on  them 
because  they'll  stand  recommending.  If  all  the 
smokers  in  Hampton  who  buy  ten  cent  cigars 
could  try  that  brand,  I'll  bet  it  would  suit  nine- 
tenths  of  them  and  they'd  come  back  for  more 
and  probably  tell  their  wives  to  buy  them  for 
their  Christmas  presents." 

"  How  can  I  get  all  those  smokers  to  come 
and  try  them?  I  can't  aflford  to  send  out  free 
samples  of  every  new  cigar  I  get,  and  as  far 
as  my  experience  goes,  this  free  sampling  thing 
doesn't  get  you  a  whole  lot  of  business/' 

"  That's  because  the  samples  don't  go  to  the 
right  people.  Of  course  you  don't  want  to  hand 
out  samples  of  ten  cent  cigars  to  people  who 
never  pay  more  than  a  nickel  for  a  smoke. 
They  won't  appreciate  the  goods  and  they  can't 
afford  to  buy  them.  Sampling  is  the  best  way 
of  introducing  any  new  brand  of  goods  and  it 
pays  if  it's  handled  right.  A  cigar  dealer  has 
an  advantage  over  other  merchants.  A  hatter, 
for  instance,  can't  leave  a  sample  line  of  his 
hats  on  a  customer's  table  for  him  to  pick  from, 
but  you  can  afford  to  leave  several  samples  of 
cigars  if  it  will  make  a  customer  for  you. 

"  I  believe  that  you  could  develop  some  trade 
on    that    cigar    through    the    newspapers.     Of 

87 


I 


il^  I 


la,  I  \ 


Sri        '.    ! 
■I,        i     i 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

course  it  costs  money  to  advertise  in  the  news- 
papers but  then  it  costs  money  to  advertise  in  al- 
most any  way.  Why  don't  you  try  using  a  news- 
paper space  in  every  issue  of  the  best  Hampton 
newspaper?  Get  a  space  that  is  right  next  to 
the  sporting  events  and  such  news  as  is  of  the 
most  interest  to  the  men.  In  that  space  run  some 
advertisements  that  will  be  interesting.  ^ 

"  You  can't  make  a  dry,  dull  kind  of  adver- 
tisement sell  cigars  or  anything  else.  YouVe 
got  to  make  your  ads  interesting.  Cigar  adver- 
tising wants  to  be  pretty  lively  and  catchy.  For 
instance,  if  you  put  into  the  space  an  ad  that 
reads,  'Buy  your  cigars  at  Foss'  Cigar  Store. 
Best  goods  for  the  least  money,'  nobody  will 
ever  pay  any  attention  to  that.  That  kind  of 
advertising  is  money  wasted. 

"  Write  a  different  advertisement  for  every 
issue  of  the  paper  and  make  each  one  of  them 
tell  something.  Now,  I  suppose  the  tobacco  in 
these  cigars  is  probably  shade  grown  tobacco. 
In  one  advertisement  say  that  the  tobacco  used 
in  the  Royal  King  is  shade  grown  tobacco  and 
then  go  on  and  tell  why  shade  grown  tobacco 
is  better.  A  whole  lot  of  smokers  don't  know 
anything  about  the  fine  points  of  tobacco  rais- 
ing and  cigar  making. 

"  In  another  advertisement,  tell  about  the  san- 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

itary  factory  these  cigars  are  made  in.  You 
said  they  were  made  in  a  sanitary  plant,  didn't 
you?  If  they  weren't  I  don't  want  them.  I'll 
tell  you  that. 

"  And  in  the  next  ad  explain  why  a  darker 
shade  of  tobacco  is  the  best  flavor  and  not  nec- 
essarily stronger  than  the  pale,  sickly,  yellowish 
kinds  that  fellows  pick  out  when  they  think  they 
want  a  mild  smoke. 

"  There's  no  end  of  things  you  can  tell  about 
a  high  class  cigar  like  this.  See  how  the  ash 
sticks  there  and  how  nice  it  is?  Why,  say  I'd 
make  a  better  salesman  for  these  cigars  than 
you  would,  Henry.  What'll  you  give  nie  to 
get  these  started  around  town?  You  can  tell 
smokers  how  to  smoke  a  cigar  too,  to  get  the  best 
out  of  it  and  most  satisfaction.  And  I'm  not 
sure  but  that  you  can  get  a  lot  of  five  cent  smok- 
ers to  buying  ten  cent  cigars  by  explaining  to  them 
that  a  ten  cent  cigar  will  go  as  far  as  two  fives, 
and  put  a  man  on  a  higher  plane,  make  a  higher 
class  man  of  him,  give  him  more  self-respect 
than  if  he  smokes  cheap  stuff.  Get  the  men  to 
smoking  less  cigars  and  better  ones  and  you  will 
do  them  some  good  and  yourself  too. 

"  It's  a  good  plan  to  make  a  little  smoker's 
corner  out  of  your  advertisement.  Have  it  a 
space  where  people  who  smoke  can  find  a  little 

89 


II 


1 1 


,  ,    * 


fl: 


f 


t-:.  \ 


t     y 


^*. 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

good  news,  a  few  interesting  items  about  tobacco 
and  its  use  every  time.  You  might  even  head 
the  ad,  '  Foss'  Smoke  Talks '  or  '  Tobacco 
News'  or  something  like  that.  Then  if  you 
make  good  by  running  some  interesting  facts  in 
that  space  you  will  get  smokers  in  the  habit  of 
reading  that  advertisement.  A  bright  little  say- 
ing or  proverb  that  will  appeal  to  the  smoker, 
though  it  is  not  an  advertising  phrase,  a  dif- 
ferent one  each  issue,  will  get  men  into  the 
habit  of  looking  there  for  the  latest. 

"  Cigars  and  tobacco  have  got  to  have  a  little 
different  treatment  in  their  advertising  from 
shoes  and  patent  medicines.  But  still,  speaking 
of  patent  medicine  advertising,  there's  one  thing 
about  it  that  you  could  copy  to  advantage  in  ad- 
vertising cigars  and  that's  the  testimonials.  If 
you  can  get  permission  from  a  few  local  smok- 
ers to  quote  what  they  say  about  your  cigar,  you 
will  hit  the  bullseye  every  time  you  shoot  in  one 
of  those  quotations.  Suppose  Judge  Simmons, 
the  old  rascal,  told  you  over  the  counter  that 
that  Royal  King  was  the  best  darned  cigar  he'd 
ever  bought  in  Hampton?  Don't  you  suppose 
you'd  get  the  fellow  who  saw  your  ad  to  sit  up 
and  take  notice  if  you  printed  just  what  the  old 
Judge  said?  He'd  let  you  do  it  too.  Most  old 
smokers  will  let  you  quote  them.     The  man  who 

90 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

doesn't  like  to  see  his  name  given  space  in  the 
newspaper  in  a  way  to  show  deference  to  his 
opinion  is  a  rare  exception." 

"Joe  Blossom's  wife  said  to  him  the  other 
night  that  he  was  getting  so  he'd  rather  stand 
around  down  town  and  smoke  those  Royal  King 
cigars  of  his  than  come  home  to  dinner.  How'd 
that  do  for  a  testimonial  ?  "  Foss  asked. 

"  K  you  could  get  permission  to  print  that, 
you'd  have  an  advertisement  that  would  be 
worth  something.  Even  if  you  couldn't  get  per- 
mission to  use  the  names  in  that  case,  you  could 
use  the  quotation  and  say  you'll  tell  who  it  was 
if  anyone  will  come  in  and  ask.  People  like  to 
read  about  what  their  neighbors  say  and  do.  Get 
them  into  your  advertising  and  you'll  make  your 
talks  as  interesting  as  the  news  columns,  and  I 
don't  know  but  a  good  deal  more  so  than  some 
of  them. 

"  Of  course  you  don't  want  to  use  all  your 
space  telling  about  one  cigar.  There  are  lots 
of  other  things  in  your  stock  that  need  to  be 
advertised.  Smokers  like  to  know  about  new 
things,  about  novelties.  They  are  always  trying 
new  cigarettes,  new  tobaccos,  new  stogies,  etc. 
They  come  back  to  the  old  favorites  a  good  many 
times,  but  something  new  is  attractive  and  you 
want  to  have  the  reputation  of  being  up  to  date 

91 


|i 


I 


it 


i 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

and  having  as  much  that's  new  as  anybody  has. 
Whenever  you  have  a  novelty  that's  worth  men- 
tioning, mention  it.  If  it's  a  pocket  cigar  lighter, 
tell  about  it.  If  it's  a  new  kind  of  pipe,  describe 
it.  If  it's  a  cigarette  a  little  different  or  a  little 
better  in  value  than  the  old  brands,  tell  your 
readers.  You  know  pretty  well  what  kind  of 
things  interest  smokers.  Don't  waste  space  tell- 
ing them  about  things  they  don't  care  anything 
about  when  you  know  of  enough  things  they  do 
care  about. 

"There's  one  kind  of  smoke  that  it  pays  to 
advertise  and  that  mighty  few  cigar  stores  do 
advertise  much,  and  that's  the  extremely  mild 
kind.  The  woods  are  full  of  men  who  know 
that  they  smoke  too  much  but  they  can't  seem 
to  stop.  These  men  are  looking  for  something 
mild.  If  they  are  old  smokers  they  sometimes 
feel  sort  of  ashamed  to  come  in  and  ask  for  the 
mildest  cigar  you've  got.  They  think  it  stamps 
them  as  cheap  sports.  And  a  good  many  young 
smokers  who  might  better  be  smoking  something 
mild  are  getting  hold  of  cigars  too  strong  for 
them  because  they  like  to  come  in  and  call  for  a 
cigar  by  name  as  if  they  knew  what  they  were 
about. 

"  Do  you  know  what  I'd  do  if  I  was  in  the 
cigar  business?     I'd  get  hold  of  the  very  mildest 

Q2 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


ten  cent  cigar  I  could  find,  one  that  wouldn't 
hurt  anybody  to  smoke  and  I'd  advertise  it 
enough  so  that  all  these  people  who  ought  to  be 
smoking  mild  smokes  and  know  it,  could  come  in 
and  call  for  that  cigar  by  name  and  know  what 
they  were  getting?" 

"  That's  a  good  scheme,"  said  Henry.  "  I'm 
going  to  try  that  out.  I  know  of  just  the  cigar. 
Just  got  a  small  box  of  'em  in  to-day." 

SELLING  CHRISTMAS  GIFTS  TO  WOMEN 

"  Another  reason  why  you  ought  to  be  using 
the  newspapers  right  along  now  is  that  the  holi- 
day trade  is  here  already  for  you  to  make  money 
on  it.  You've  got  a  good  line  of  all  kinds  of 
smokes  here.  I  can  tell  because  I  know  what  a 
cigar  stock  ought  to  look  like.  Well,  there  isn't 
a  smoker  in  town  but  would  be  glad  to  get  smokes 
for  Christmas  if  he  could  get  the  kind  he  likes 
to  smoke. 

"  The  funny  papers  have  joked  so  long  about 
the  cigars  a  man's  wife  gives  him  for  Christmas 
that  no  woman  dares  to  take  a  chance  now  on 
buying  cigars  for  her  husband  for  Christmas. 
She  knows  that  she  can't  tell  anything  about 
cigars  and  she's  afraid  his  friends  will  get  onto 
the  fact  that  she  gave  him  poor  cigars. 

"  The  thing  for  you  to  do  is  to  advertise  cigars 

93 


I 


:l:  i 


'  i 


iki' 


.    ! 


11 1-' 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

for  Christmas  presents.  Just  make  it  plain  that 
every  smoker  appreciates  good  cigars  as  a  pres- 
ent and  them  make  it  plainer  yet  that  you  have 
the  kind  of  smokes  that  will  suit  the  smoker. 

"  Advertise  like  this : '  If  your  husband  smokes, 
he'll  appreciate  a  gift  of  cigars  that  he  likes.  I 
know  what  kind  he  likes.  It's  my  business  to 
know.  Come  to  my  store  and  I'll  sell  you  a  box 
or  a  half  a  box  or  a  quarter's  worth  of  cigars 
that  will  suit  him.  Probably  I  know  just  the 
brand  he  likes  best,  but  if  I  sell  you  cigars  for 
anybody's  Christmas  you  can  give  them  with  the 
assurance  that  if  the  recipient  would  rather  have 
some  other  brand,  he  can  trot  right  around  to  my 
store  and  I'll  exchange  with  him  for  any  other 
kind  he  wants.'  When  a  woman  finds  that  she 
can  buy  cigars  like  that,  she'll  buy  'em. 

"  And  you  aren't  taking  any  chances  because 
you  can  make  the  exchange  when  it's  necessary 
without  any  loss  and  if  it  brings  to  your  store 
to  exchange  a  fellow  who  has  been  buying  his 
smokes  somewhere  else,  you  have  a  first  class 
chance  to  get  him  started  on  one  of  your  brands. 

"  Then  you've  got  lots  of  other  things  beside 
cigars  that  make  good  Christmas  presents  to 
smokers.  Pipes  ought  to  be  big  sellers  all 
through  December  and  here  again  a  woman 
doesn't  know  much  about  what  to  buy  and  you 

94 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

ought  to  offer  to  sell  them  with  the  privilege  of 
exchange.  That's  about  the  only  way  a  woman 
will  buy  for  presents  anything  she  isn't  posted 
on. 

"  You  can  develop  a  nice  little  Christmas  busi- 
ness on  some  of  these  goods  by  getting  out  a 
circular  letter  and  sending  it  to  the  wives  of  the 
men  who  buy  their  cigars  from  you  and  to  wives 
of  those  who  don't  too.  The  average  woman 
has  a  hard  time  finding  what  to  buy  for  her  old 
man  for  Christmas.  He  savs  he  doesn't  want 
anything  and  she  knows  he  does  and  he'll  be 
sore  if  she  doesn't  get  him  something.  He'll 
be  sour  if  she  gets  him  something  he  doesn't 
want  because  that  means  money  wasted.  But 
send  the  wife  a  circular  explaining  how  you  are 
ready  to  help  her  get  her  husband  for  Christmas 
just  the  thing  that  will  suit  him  and  she  ought 
to  welcome  the  suggestion. 

"  Christmas  oflFers  a  cigar  dealer  an  opportunity 
to  get  rid  of  some  unsalable  goods  too.  I  don't 
mean  that  it's  a  chance  for  him  to  unload  a  lot 
of  poor  stuff,  because  I  don't  believe  it  ever  pays 
to  fool  anyone  by  selling  them  a  box  of  bad 
cigars  just  on  the  chance  that  they  will  never 
know  they  were  bad.  When  a  man  is  handed  a 
box  of  cigars  for  Christmas  it  is  often  accom- 
panied by  the  remark,  *  I  don't  know  what  you 

95 


II 


11 


II 


r  t 


I 


i' 


ir 


( 


I   i 


i    !' 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

smoke  and  these  may  not  be  any  good  but  Foss 
told  me  they  were  the  best  brand  he  had  and 
I  had  to  go  by  his  word  on  it.'  There  you  are, 
you  see,  if  the  cigars  are  bum,  you  get  a  black 
eye  with  that  man  right  away.  YouVe  stuck  him 
with  some  poor  cigars  and  you've  fooled  an  in- 
nocent customer.  If  you  can  fool  the  smoker 
it's  better  than  fooling  the  non-smoker. 

"  What  I  mean  by  working  off  unsalable  goods 
is  that  you  have  in  your  cases  certain  brands  of 
perfectly  good  cigars  that  there  is  no  longer 
any  call  for.  The  cigars  are  all  right  only  they're 
kind  of  out  of  fashion,  so  to  speak.  There  are 
always  a  few  boxes  on  hand  of  such  brands  that 
the  store  is  ready  to  close  out.  Get  rid  of  them 
at  Christmas  time.  It's  the  same  with  some 
other  goods.  These  goods  need  not  be  specific- 
ally advertised.  It  is  salesmanship  that  sells 
them. 

**  If  you  want  to  make  some  special  holiday 
packages  out  of  staple  stock  in  hand,  use  holly 
paper  and  holly  tape  or  ribbon  and  sprigs  of 
holly  or  mistletoe  in  dressing  up  boxes.  Use 
'  Merry  Christmas '  and  Santa  Claus  labels,  tags 
and  stickers  to  give  a  Christmas  air  to  boxes  of 
cigars.  It  is  possible  in  such  ways  to  make 
staple  packages  look  like  special  packages  and  the 
labels,  etc.,  may  be  removed  after  Christmas  so 

96 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


that  the  stock  unsold  is  not  the  same  out  of  sea- 
son looking  stuff  that  actual  special  goods  will 
be. 

"  Another  thing  I  would  advertise  just  be- 
fore Christmas  is  that  you  will  deliver  presents 
to  any  address  in  town  and  that  when  desired 
you  will  wrap  and  ship  by  mail  or  express  any 
goods  bought  at  your  store  so  that  people  want- 
ing to  send  cigars  to  distant  friends  may  simply 
come  in  and  pay  for  the  goods  and  leave  a  card 
to  be  inserted  and  your  store  does  the  rest. 
This  service  takes  a  good  deal  of  responsibility 
off  from  the  shoulders  of  the  shopper  and  you 
can  afford  to  do  the  work  for  the  profit  in  the 
goods. 

"  People  who  are  not  in  the  habit  of  patroniz- 
ing your  store  hesitate  about  asking  such  favors 
as  the  above  of  you  and  they  are  apt  to  buy 
something  different  or  to  buy  their  cigar  pres- 
ents at  a  general  store  where  they  are  in  the 
habit  of  trading,  to  get  the  service  they  hate  to 
ask  from  you.  It  pays  at  holiday  time  to  ad- 
vertise service  because  people  appreciate  it  bet- 
ten  then.  This  is  where  the  exclusive  cigar  store 
has  the  advantage  over  the  store  that  makes 
cigars  simply  one  line  in  many  and  is  so  rushed 
that  it  cannot  give  anyone  the  kind  of  service 
that  you  can  give  at  your  busiest  season. 

97 


I 


i: 


II 


II 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


"Deliver  presents  to  any  address  in  town." 


98 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  Don't  forget  to  make  your  windows  more  at- 
tractive than  usual  at  the  Christmas  season. 
Make  them  attractive  in  a  different  way  too. 
The  usual  cigar  store  window  has  no  attraction 
for  a  woman.  The  woman's  attention  is  what 
you  want  to  get  just  now  and  in  order  to  do  this 
It  is  necessary  to  use  show  cards  that  will  draw 
her  to  the  window.  Just  cigars,  no  matter  how 
well  shown  will  not  do  it  because  she  realizes 
that  all  cigars  look  alike  to  her. 

"  Use  a  big  show  card  reading  something  like 
this,  'Does  HE  Smoke?  We  sell  Christmas 
cigars  that  we  guarantee  HE  will  like ' ;  or  '  Buy 
HIM  a  box  of  these  cigars  at  $2.08.  If  HE 
wants  to  change  them  for  another  brand  he  can 
do  so.'  Here  is  another  card  suggestion: 
'  Ladies !  A  Suggestion !  Give  HIM  a  box  of 
these  cigars,'  or  '  HE  will  like  these  cigars.  We 
guarantee  their  quality.* 

"  You  know  what  I  mean ;  something  to  at- 
tract the  women  and  show  them  that  they  can 
buy  from  you  a  box  of  cigars  that  their  men 
will  like,  or  that  can  be  exchanged  if  they  do  not 
suit.  And  by  letting  them  exchange  them  I  mean 
let  them  bring  back  the  whole  full  box  or  part 
of  it  after  some  of  the  cigars  have  been  smoked. 
Be  generous  about  it  because  the  sales  you  get 
on  account  of  the  offer  are  apt  to  be  just  so 

99 


1  '. « • 


■! 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

much  velvet,  so  much  goods  that  you  otherwise 
would  not  have  sold. 

''  Advertising  is  what  sells  the  goods  at  Christ- 
mas time  and  everybody  else  is  after  the  Christ- 
mas present  trade  so  you  will  have  to  stir  your- 
self if  you  get  your  share.  You  probably  think 
that  Tm  offering  a  good  deal  of  advice  for  a 
fellow  who  never  ran  a  cigar  store  but  I'll  tell 
you  right  now  that  running  a  cigar  store  isn't 
as  different  from  running  some  other  kinds  of 
a  store  as  you  might  think.  I  want  to  see  you 
do  the  biggest  December  business  you  ever  did 
and  if  you  give  this  advertising  matter  enough 
care  and  work,  you'll  get  the  business.  Now, 
give  me  another  quarter's  worth  of  those  famous 
cigars  and  I'll  be  off.  What?  Well  if  you  in- 
sist ril  take  'em  but  I  don't  believe  you'll  make 
any  money  handing  out  free  goods  like  that. 
Good  bye !  I'll  be  in  again  after  Christmas  prob- 
ably." 


SEVENTH  TALK 


DELIVERING   THE   GOODS 


100 


For  some  weeks  Jack  Henderson  continued  to 
be  very  attentive  to  Dolly  Dingle  and  since  Jack 
was  a  popular  fellow  with  the  Hampton  girls  his 
apparent  infatuation  with  this  new  girl  who 
"  worked  in  a  store  "  had  its  effect  upon  a  few 
of  his  friends  who  put  on  toplofty  airs  and 
thought  themselves  a  little  better  than  other  peo- 
ple. 

Some  of  these  near-aristocratic  young  ladies 
turned  up  their  noses  at  Jack  and  Dolly  and  he 
was  left  out  of  some  of  the  parties.  Further 
than  this  there  was  a  falling  off  in  the  pur- 
chases of  the  offended  damsels  at  Larry  Ben- 
jamin's store. 

While  Jack's  boss  did  not  say  anything  to  him 
about  it,  it  gradually  dawned  upon  the  head 
clerk  of  John  Barlow's  strongest  competitor  that 
his  actions  were  unpolitic  to  say  the  least. 

He  was  a  good  deal  taken  with  Miss  Dolly  but 
he  was  a  light-headed  youth  and  thought  more 

lOI 


'&: 


m\ 


lyiore  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

of  having  all  the  girls  like  him  than  of  having 
just  one.  The  result  of  this  was  that  he  began 
to  use  some  care  about  where  he  was  seen  with 
Dolly. 

He  had  not  been  careful  more  than  two  or 
three  times  before  he  found  himself  possessed 
of  a  beautifully  frosted  "  mitten/'  handed  to  him 
by  Dolly  herself.  Every  girl  knows  intuitively 
and  instantly  when  her  escort  feels  even  the  least 
bit  ashamed  of  her  or  of  being  seen  with  her, 
no  matter  what  the  reason. 

Dolly's  affections  had  not  been  touched  in  the 
slightest  degree  and  she  did  not  hesitate  a  mo- 
ment about  what  to  do  when  she  saw  how  Jack 
Henderson  felt. 

Jerry  Barnard  however  was  waiting  to  take 
Jack's  place.  He  had  been  a  worshipful  admirer 
of  Dolly  from  the  first  time  she  appeared  in  the 
store.  And  when  the  Christmas  Holiday  sea- 
son came,  with  its  attendant  rush  of  trade  which 
gave  no  one  much  time  for  love-making,  it  found 
Barlow  fretting  more  about  the  fact  that  he 
could  not  keep  Jerry  away  from  Dolly  than 
about  how  to  handle  the  Christmas  business. 

One  feature  of  the  business  though  was  call- 
ing for  attention  and  at  last  it  compelled  Bar- 
low to  give  it  some  decided  thought. 

It  was  the  delivery  question.     The  store  did 

102 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

not  send  out  clerks  to  take  orders  but  it  did 
deliver  goods  all  over  town.  It  had  done  this 
from  the  first  and  the  town  covered  a  good  deal 
of  territory  and  it  occupied  the  time  of  one  or 
sometimes  two  clerks  much  of  the  day  getting 
ready  anything  from  a  five  cent  purchase  up. 

The  proprietor  of  the  store  thought  that  his 
delivery  privilege  was  being  abused.  He  began 
to  get  sore  about  it  and  he  acted  a  little  peevish 
when  a  woman  would  telephone  in  to  have  a 
spool  of  thread  sent  out  at  once. 

He  sat  at  his  desk  one  morning  with  a  big 
sheet  of  figures  before  him  trying  to  figure  out 
how  much  money  he  lost  on  a  spool  of  thread 
that  he  had  to  deliver  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  when 
in  through  the  back  door  came  the  Old  Store- 
keeper with  his  collar  turned  up  around  his  ears 
and  his  nose  red. 

"  Br-r-r-r !  Ain't  this  a  dandy  winter  day  ? 
Why  the  dickens  don't  you  get  out  and  get  a 
little  fresh  air  instead  of  sitting  here  doubled 
up  over  your  desk  like  a  woodchuck  chewing  at 
a  clover?" 

Barlow  got  up  and  pushed  a  chair  over  by  the 
radiator  for  Tobias  and  replied, 

"  I've  got  troubles  enough  of  my  own  with- 
out worrying  about  how  to  get  oxygen  into  my 
system.     Say,  how  much  do  you  suppose  I  lose 

103 


|i 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

on  a  five  cent  spool  of  thread  that  I  have  to  take 
clear  out  to  Granny  Bitter's  house  on  a  telephone 
order?  " 

"  You  lose  about  as  much  as  Charley  Mc- 
Guire  lost  when  he  paid  his  brother  in-law  a 
dollar  for  a  little  piece  of  cheap  pasteboard  that 
turned  out  to  be  the  winning  ticket  in  the  lottery 
drawing  for  that  month.  YouVe  heard  how  he 
kicked  about  that  for  a  while  ?  " 

"  Where's  there  any  chance  to  win  in  this  lot- 
tery ?  "  asked  Barlow  sourly. 

'*  Well,  I'm  not  going  to  say  that  delivering 
the  goods  is  a  source  of  profit  and  pleasure  to 
everyone  concerned.  And  I'm  not  going  to  say 
that  it  wouldn't  be  better  if  no  one  had  to  do  it. 
Personally  I  think  this  co-operative  delivery 
idea  is  a  pretty  good  one ;  delivering  all  done  by 
one  man  who  makes  it  his  business  and  every 
fellow  pays  for  having  his  stuflF  taken  out.  If  I 
was  selling  some  lines  of  goods  that  won't  main- 
tain a  delivery  department  I  certainly  would  hire 
my  delivering  done.  But  I  would  deliver  if  my 
competitors  made  any  pretense  of  doing  it  and 
I'd  do  it  so  well  that  I'd  have  them  beat  a  mile. 

"  Almost  everyone  does  deliver  and  you've 
got  to  do  it  or  else  pay  the  customer  for  taking 
his  goods  home  by  making  him  a  special  price. 
As  long  as  you've  got  to  pay  for  it  anyway, 

104 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

rather  than  pay  the  customer,  you  might  better 
have  the  work  done  by  your  own  help  and  see 
that  they  do  it  right. 

"  Of  course  you  don't  make  any  profit  on  that 
particular  spool  of  thread  itself,  but  if  you  take 
the  order  cheerfully  and  deliver  it  quickly  you 
get  the  good  will  of  Granny  Bitters  and  I'm  not 
sure  but  it's  worth  quite  a  little  money  to  have 
a  gossipy  old  woman  like  her  on  your  side.  You 
certainly  can't  afford  to  be  cross  and  refuse  to 
send  the  goods  or  she'd  turn  every  woman  on 
her  street  against  you,  and  if  you  act  peevish 
about  doing  it  you  don't  get  any  credit  for  the 
delivering  and  have  all  the  trouble  of  it  just  the 

same. 

"  But  you  ought  to  try  to  use  a  little  sales- 
manship in  such  cases.  When  a  woman  calls 
you  up  and  asks  for  the  delivery  of  some  item 
that  is  so  small  that  she  knows  you  are  doing 
her  a  favor  to  bring  it  to  her,  take  advantage  of 
the  situation  and  suggest  that  perhaps  there  is 
something  else  she  would  like  when  your  deliv- 
ery boy  is  coming  right  out  that  way.  Call  her 
attention  to  certain  new  things  you  have  or  cer- 
tain specials  for  that  day  and  if  she  does  not 
want  to  order  anything  else  get  the  privilege  of 
sending  up  by  the  boy  some  new  goods  for  her 

to  look  at. 

105 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  As  long  as  a  fellow  is  going  to  do  delivering 
he  might  just  as  well  make  it  pay  him  as  much 
as  possible.  The  delivering  ought  to  be  done 
by  one  or  more  employes  who  make  it  their  chief 
business.  For  one  thing  it  can  be  done  by 
cheaper  help  than  you  use  inside  of  the  store, 
and  for  another,  if  a  fellow  makes  a  specialty 
of  delivering  goods,  he  gets  so  he  can  do  it  bet- 
ter and  quicker,  just  like  anybody  does  anything 
better  for  making  a  specialty  of  it. 

"  I  know  of  storekeepers  who  claim  that  they 
deliver  goods  anywhere  in  town  and  then  when 
anyone  asks  them  to  send  something  up  they 
say  "  Ouch !  "  Not  in  just  so  many  words  per- 
haps, but  they  look  it  just  as  much  as  if  you 
had  stepped  on  their  toes.  Now  that's  no  way 
to  make  a  customer  happy.  You  advertise 
'  Goods  delivered  anywhere  within  a  mile  of  the 
store '  and  then  because  the  customer  orders 
something  that  you  don't  make  much  money  on, 
you  act  sore  about  it. 

"  It's  just  like  offering  a  premium  with  every 
purchase  of  a  certain  amount  of  goods  and  then 
trying  to  keep  the  customer  from  buying  enough 
goods  to  get  it.  If  it  pays  at  all  to  deliver  or  to 
give  a  premium,  why  doesn't  it  pay  better  to  do 
more  of  it?  Why  isn't  the  best  plan  to  get  all 
the  business  of  the  sort  that  you  can  get  ? 

io6 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  I  don't  have  but  mighty  little  patience  with 
the  fellow  who  gets  a  grouch  because  I  take  him 
up  on  his  own  proposition,  do  you  ?  " 

Barlow  admitted  that  he  did  not  have  and  he 
went  on  to  ask, 

"  How  can  I  make  this  delivering  bring  me 
more  business  ?  We  advertise, .  '  Gk)ods  deliv- 
ered anywhere  in  town  promptly'  and  we  do 
deliver  promptly  but  I  can't  see  that  it  is  bringing 
any  more  business." 

"Your  business  is  growing,  isn't  it?"  asked 
Tobias. 

"  Yes,"  admitted  the  other. 

"  Well,  how  the  dickens  do  you  know  that  all 
or  part  of  that  growth  isn't  due  to  your  deliver- 
ing the  goods  ?  " 

"  Chiefly  because  the  most  of  our  growth  is 
among  the  farmers  to  whom  we  don't  deliver  — 
and  then  we  have  to  give  some  credit  to  the  ad- 
vertising." 

"  If  that's  the  way  of  it,  I'll  tell  you  why  de- 
livering doesn't  get  you  any  special  advantage. 
You  don't  deliver  any  better  than  your  competi- 
tors. They  advertise  the  same  thing  and  they 
do  it  just  as  you  do  it.  My  wife  ordered  some- 
thing from  here  a  few  days  ago  that  she  wanted 
in  a  hurry.  It  was  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
You  took  the  order  yourself  and  you  said  it 

107 


."i  '.r 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

would  be  sent  up  inside  of  an  hour.  At  four 
in  the  afternoon  it  came.  What  do  you  know 
about  that  ? " 

Barlow  blushed  guiltily.  "  Well,  you  see," 
said  he,  ''  I  forgot  and  — '' 

"  Yes,  I  know.  Somebody  must  have  forgot, 
but  how  does  that  fact  help  a  woman  who  has 
gone  ahead  and  made  her  plans  and  counted 
on  having  a  certain  purchase  in  the  house  in  an 
hour?  Now,  I  know  of  other  times  and  of 
other  people  who  have  found  this  store  a  little 
short  on  memory  and  if  you  can  explain  how 
that  sort  of  delivering  could  possibly  get  any- 
body any  business  or  hold  any  of  the  old  busi- 
ness, tell  me  quick." 

"  You  can't  prevent  some  mistakes  in  doing 
business,"  said  Barlow  a  little  sullenly. 

"  I  see  you  can't.  There  may  be  some  rela- 
tion between  those  mistakes  and  the  fact  that 
delivering  the  goods  hasn't  got  you  more  trade. 
Now,  I'll  tell  you  what  I'd  do  if  I  were  in  your 
place.  I'd  specialize  on  this  delivery  business  a 
little.  And  I'd  do  it  without  advertising  the 
fact  to  my  competitors  in  advance.  Sort  o'  steal 
a  march  on  them. 

'*  This  is  your  busiest  time  of  year.  People 
are  buying  a  lot  of  things  now  and  they  often 
take   them   home   with   them   because   they   are 

io8 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


afraid  they  wouldn't  be  delivered  promptly 
enough.  They  would  rather  have  their  pur- 
chases sent  up  and  in  a  good  many  cases  they 
would  add  something  to  them  if  they  were  going 
to  be  sent. 

*'  I'd  put  on  an  extra  boy  or  two  for  the  de- 
livering now.  I'd  tell  every  town  customer  who 
comes  in,  whether  buying  anything  or  not,  that 
you  are  taking  special  pains  with  deliveries  now 
and  sending  goods  out  almost  as  soon  as  they 
are  bought  and  ask  if  there  isn't  something  you 
can  send  up. 

**  I'd  almost  insist  upon  people  leaving  the  pur- 
chases they  make  here  and  the  packages  they 
already  have  that  have  come  from  other  stores, 
so  that  you  can  deliver  them.  I'd  say  enough 
about  it  too,  so  that  it  would  leave  an  impression. 
And  I'd  see  that  the  goods  were  sent  out  just  as 
I  said  they  would  be.  Just  before  Christmas  I'd 
advertise  in  the  newspapers  that  you  \y\\\  send 
Christmas  goods  anywhere  in  town  for  examina- 
tion, sending  a  messenger  with  them  to  show  the 
goods  and  bring  them  back  or  get  the  money. 

"  There  are  always  a  lot  of  people  who  can't 
get  out  at  all  to  do  any  Christmas  shopping  and 
there  are  always  some  people  who,  on  account 
of  lack  of  time,  or  on  account  of  illness,  or  the 
weather,  can't  get  out  at  the  last  minute  and 

109 


I 


ij 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


*7  would  send  a  clerk  to  the  house  to  show  them  the 

goods," 


110 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

they  want  to  make  some  last  purchases.  It's  the 
same  way  with  other  holidays  beside  Christmas 
when  people  are  buying  more  than  usual  in  your 
line.  This  little  scheme  will  get  a  lot  of  extra 
trade  and  a  good  deal  of  it  is  likely  to  come  out 
of  your  competitor's  share." 

"  I  wonder  how  it  would  do  to  work  some 
such  plan  in  connection  with  a  special  sale," 
suggested  Barlow  interestedly. 

"  Fine !  I  worked  it  once  myself  the  first 
year  we  had  a  telephone  exchange  in  town.  I 
put  on  a  special  February  sale  and  I  made  some 
offers  that  opened  people's  eyes  too.  I  chopped 
the  profit  all  off  from  one  or  two  lines.  And 
then  I  advertised  that  anyone  in  town  who  could 
not  come  to  the  sale  could  have  the  sale  brought 
to  them.  I  told  them  they  could  take  advantage 
of  it  by  telephoning  or  sending  word  in  any 
way.  I  said  I  would  send  a  clerk  to  the  house 
to  show  them  the  goods  they  wanted  to  see  and 
they  needn't  buy  unless  there  was  something 
they  wanted." 

"  Didn't  people  buy  the  goods  that  paid  no 
profit  so  that  you  didn't  get  anything  out  of  the 
trip  to  show  them  samples  ?  " 

"  My  son,  you're  a  little  short-sighted.  Of 
course  people  telephoned  for  the  bargain  goods 
and  of  course  the  clerk  took  them,  but  your 

III 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

Uncle  Dudley  knew  that  would  be  the  case  so 
he  always  sent  along  with  the  specials  a  few 
things  that  he  himself  thought  would  interest 
the  person  who  was  going  to  be  interviewed.  I 
made  a  good  many  of  the  trips  myself  and  the 
rest  were  all  made  by  a  clerk  I  had  who  could 
sell  options  on  a  rainbow  if  it  had  a  good  color. 

"Of  course  it  took  a  good  deal  of  time  to  see 
all  these  people  but  when  the  calls  began  to  get 
ahead  of  me,  I  just  sent  them  a  post  card  saying 
that  everyone  asking  us  to  call  would  be  visited 
in  turn  and  even  if  we  could  not  get  to  all  of 
them  before  the  sale  closed  they  would  have 
their  chance  at  the  bargains  just  the  same. 

"  It  took  a  week  more  than  the  sale  time  to 
see  them  all  —  but  maybe  we  didn't  sell  a  lot  of 
goods  to  those  people  who  let  us  get  right  inside 
of  their  houses  with  the  goods  and  our  talk ! 

"  Now  I'm  going  to  advise  you  to  do  some- 
thing that  you  won't  do.  You  have  to  do  all 
your  delivering  now  by  a  boy  on  foot  or  on  a 
bicycle,  or  with  your  one  horse  delivery  wagon. 
Do  you  know  that  for  about  what  it  costs  you 
for  one  delivery  boy  and  bicycle  —  two  parts  of 
the  time  —  and  for  the  expenses  of  a  horse  and 
wagon  and  a  man  to  take  care  of  it  and  run  it, 
you  could  run  a  nice  automobile  delivery  cart 
that  would  increase  your  delivery  radius  at  least 

112 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

five  miles  and  save  no  end  of  time  and  be  the 
finest  kind  of  an  advertisement  for  the  progress- 
iveness  of  your  store? 

"  Of  course  automobile  delivery  wagons  are 
common  enough  nowadays  in  lots  of  places  but 
they  aren't  so  common  yet  but  that  one  of  them 
gives  a  store  a  prestige  over  the  fellows  who 
haven't  got  one.  And  in  a  town  like  this  where 
nobody  uses  one,  you  could  make  yourself  easily 
the  biggest  toad  in  the  puddle. 

"  Oh  yes,  I  know  what  you're  thinking. 
You've  had  it  in  mind  for  a  good  while  to  get  a 
nice  red  runabout  that  would  tear  oflf  about 
seventy-five  miles  an  hour  and  use  it  to  take  Miss 
Dolly  Dingle  kiting  around  the  country  on  Sun- 
days where  none  of  the  other  boys  could  get  her. 
Well,  I  don't  find  any  fault  with  your  tastes  as 
far  as  girls  go  but  I  find  a  lot  of  fault  with  your 
judgment 

*'  Just  take  the  advice  of  a  man  who  has  taken 
just  as  much  advice  as  he  ever  gave  and  don't  go 
to  developing  your  speed  mania  until  you  have 
developed  your  business  to  where  it  will  stand  it. 
The  fellow  who  goes  ahead  and  develops  an  au- 
tomobile taste  when  he's  only  got  a  velocipede 
salary  will  in  a  little  while  find  himself  back  on 
his  velocipede  —  if  he's  had  enough  sense  to 
keep  it. 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  Until  a  man  has  his  business  all  built  up 
and  fully  paid  for  he  hasn't  any  business  indulg- 
ing in  the  game  of  boring  with  a  big  auger.  Of 
course  a  man  has  to  have  some  fun  and  he  cer- 
tainly needs  a  lot  of  recreation  just  to  keep  him 
fit  for  his  work,  but  when  he  gets  the  idea  that 
he  can't  have  any  fun  without  spending  a  lot  of 
money  to  get  it,  he  has  another  think  coming. 

"  You  know  who  Jonas  Tarbottle  is  ?  Well, 
Jone  got  things  coming  his  way  pretty  well  and 
he  thought  he  had  to  have  a  trotting  horse.  So 
he  bought  one  and  unfortunately  it  won  the  first 
race  he  entered  it  in.  That  was  enough  to  start 
Jone  going.  It  got  him  so  excited  that  he  was 
giving  down-weight  on  granulated  sugar  and 
selling  $40  cigars  six  for  a  quarter. 

"  When  it  got  to  where  he  had  to  have  a  better 
trainer  because  he  was  losing  all  his  races,  he 
put  on  a  special  sale  of  staples  at  prices  25% 
below  cost  and  raked  in  a  lot  of  money  and  let  go 
of  pretty  near  all  of  his  stock  that  was  any  good. 
The  new  trainer  couldn't  make  his  three-minute 
nag  step  in  the  two-twenty  class  and  so  the  whole 
campaign  fell  down  and  the  horse  and  store  and 
stock  were  sold  by  a  man  called  the  Sheriff. 
Since  then,  as  you're  aware,  Jone's  been  janitor 
of  the  high  school  building  and  the  M.  E.  Church 
and  his  wife  does  hair  washing  and  manicuring 

114 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

for  the  folks  whose  husbands  know  enough  to 
keep  their  bread  from  falling  butter-side  down." 

''  I  see  the  point,"  said  Barlow. 

"  Then  I  guess  it's  time  for  me  to  go  to  din- 
ner," and  Tobias  buttoned  up  his  coat  and  started 
for  the  door. 

When  almost  there  he  turned  back  and  said, 
"  One  thing  more  that  I  see  you're  thinking 
of  now.  Don't  try  to  figure  on  a  way  that  you 
can  make  a  forty  horse  power  automobile  built 
on  what  the  advertisements  call  '  classy  lines,' 
do  for  a  delivery  car  week-days  and  a  touring 
car  Sundays.  If  you  can  make  a  delivery  car 
do  to  ride  in  Sundays,  that  will  be  well  enough, 
but  it  won't  work  first  rate  the  other  way." 

With  another  semi-guilty  flush  Barlow- turned 
around  and  looked  out  of  the  back  window  as  his 
friend  went  away. 


115 


EIGHTH  TALK 

THE   dealer's    best    HELP 

"  Got  any  fire  in  here  ?  "  asked  the  Old  Store- 
keeper of  Henry  Foss  as  he  breezed  into  his 
cigar  store  one  cold  morning  a  day  or  so  later. 

"Have  I  got  any  fire?"  replied  Henry. 
"  Well,  what  do  you  think  I  am,  an  Esquimau  ? 
Did  you  ever  come  in  here  on  a  cold  day  when  I 
didn't  have  a  good  fire  ?  I  believe  in  keeping  my 
store  comfortably  warm  in  winter  and  com- 
fortably cool  in  summer." 

"  And  you're  just  right  about  it  too,"  said 
Tobias.  ''  I  can't  see  what  some  fellows  are 
thinking  about  to  let  their  stores  get  hot  and 
fly-bitten  in  warm  weather  and  cold  and  frost- 
bitten in  winter.  You'd  think  that  anybody  who 
has  sense  enough  to  run  a  store  at  all  would 
have  sense  enough  to  know  that  people  will  buy 
more  when  they  are  comfortable  than  when 
their  fingers  are  too  numb  to  count  money,  or 
when  they  are  so  hot  they  can't  pick  up  a  postage 

ii6 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

stamp  and  let  go  of  it  again  without  washing  it 
off. 

"  You've  got  the  right  idea.  I'll  say  that  much 
for  you.  And  from  the  looks  of  things  I'll  bet 
it's  paying  you  pretty  well.  They  say  you're 
making  more  money  than  any  other  man  in 
Hampton." 

"  You  don't  want  to  believe  all  you  hear,"  said 
Henry,  but  he  smiled  like  a  basket  of  chips  when 
he  said  it,  for  what  business  man  was  there  ever 
who  did  not  like  to  have  people  think  him  pros- 
perous ? 

"  I've  been  noticing  one  thing  lately  about  your 
store  and  that  is  that  you  are  always  right  on  deck 
with  the  latest  goods  advertised  in  the  magazines. 
Now,  that's  what  I  call  enterprise  —  having  the 
new  things  that  the  big  manufacturers  are  spend- 
ing their  money  to  make  sell.  I  don't  believe  in 
a  fellow  in  any  line  of  business  loading  up  with 
every  new  thing  that  comes  along,  but  when  a 
good,  reliable  house  starts  a  big  advertising  cam- 
paign on  something  new  they've  added  to  their 
line,  I  believe  the  thing  for  the  retailer  to  do  is 
to  get  in  enough  of  the  goods  so  that  when  the 
first  demand  comes  it  will  find  him  ready.  The 
chap  who  has  the  goods  for  the  first  demands  is 
the  one  who  is  going  to  get  the  second  sales.  If 
you  wait  until  there  is  so  much  call  for  the  goods 

117 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

that  you  just  have  to  put  them  in,  you  are  too 
late.  Somebody  else  has  got  the  reputation  for 
having  them  and  you  will  lose  the  best  of  the 
business,  and  as  likely  as  not  a  few  good  cus- 
tomers beside." 

"Well,  that's  about  the  way  IVe  figured  it 
out/'  said  Henry.  ''  For  a  time  I  used  to  get  a 
grouch  whenever  I  saw  a  big  manufacturer 
jumping  out  with  big  magazine  space.  It  looked 
as  if  he  was  trying  to  compel  me  to  sell  his  goods. 
Finally  I  thought,  suppose  he  is  trying  to  make 
me  sell  them?  Don't  I  want  to  sell  goods? 
Ain't  that  what  Fm  here  for?  What  do  I  care 
whose  goods  I  sell  if  I  make  money  on  them? 
And  I  concluded  that  if  anyone  wanted  to  get 
up  a  demand  that  would  make  it  easy  for  me  to 
sell  anything,  from  Big-and-Bad  chewing  tobacco 
to  self-starting  spring  tooth  harrows,  Fd  be 
game  and  sell  the  goods  and  keep  the  money." 

"  Do  you  know  what  a  merchant  told  me  the 
other  day,  Henry?''  asked  Tobias. 

"  What  was  that  ?  " 

"  Well,  he  was  talking  about  this  same  thing, 
about  the  advertising  in  the  magazines  and  how 
it  kept  people  coming  in  and  asking  for  new 
things  all  the  time  and  he  said,  '  There's  a  big 
bunch  of  money  being  spent  on  this  advertising 
every  month  and  most  of  the  goods  aren't  worth 

Ii8 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

powder  to  blow  'em  up/  I  said  to  him :  *  Wait ! 
You  don't  believe  that  and  neither  do  1/  Of 
course  not  all  advertised  goods  are  top  notch 
quality,  but  they  average  pretty  blamed  high.  A 
concern  that's  going  to  spend  ten  thousand  or  a 
hundred  thousand  dollars  in  getting  the  public 
to  try  a  brand  of  anything  isn't  going  to  give  it 
goods  that  it  won't  come  back  to  buy  again. 

"  The  first  sales  of  such  advertised  goods 
won't  bring  in  money  enough  to  pay  the  interest 
on  the  sum  invested  in  advertising.  Folks  have 
got  to  come  back  and  buy  more  and  tell  their 
friends  about  the  goods  and  get  them  to  try  them 
and  this  has  got  to  go  on  for  quite  a  while  before 
there  will  be  anything  in  it  for  the  manufacturer. 
Is  a  man  going  to  put  trash  on  the  market  under 
those  conditions  ?     Not  on  your  life ! 

"  The  wise  little  retailer  is  going  to  have  the 
goods  that  people  call  for  and  those  are  to  a  big 
extent  going  to  be  the  advertised  goods.  And 
he's  going  to  tie  up  to  the  big  advertisers  and  let 
them  send  him  store  signs  and  other  stuff  to  help 
make  the  goods  go.  You're  doing  all  this  and 
you're  doing  it  right.  No  wonder  you're  mak- 
ing money/' 

"  Well,  I  am  making  a  little  money,'*  admitted 
Henry,  "  but  I  want  to  make  more  and  I  want  to 
know  how  to  do  it.     Perhaps  you  can  tell  me." 

119 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  I  can  tell  you  how  you  can  find  out,"  said 
Tobias.  "  I  don't  know  an  awful  lot  about  your 
particular  line  but  FlI  tell  you  how  any  business 
man  can  find  out  how  to  make  good  and  what 
will  help  him  to  do  it." 

"  I'm  listening  pretty  hard  for  that  kind  of  in- 
formation/' Henry  said  as  he  hitched  his  chair 
over  toward  where  the  Old  Storekeeper  had  sat 
down  behind  the  stove. 

"  There  isn't  any  secret  about  it,"  Tobias  went 
on.  "  When  you  went  to  school  in  the  little  old 
red  schoolhouse  over  on  Pine  Brook  they  set 
you  at  studying  your  arithmetic  to  learn  how  to 
add  and  subtract,  and  they  set  you  at  the  geog- 
raphy to  learn  where  places  were.  Whatever 
you  wanted  to  learn,  they  gave  you  a  book  that 
told  all  about  that  subject  and  you  learned  it  out 
of  the  book.  In  those  days  we  thought  that  if 
we  wanted  to  know  about  almost  anything,  the 
place  to  find  out  was  in  some  book  or  paper 
where  it  was  all  written  up  by  somebody  who 
knew. 

"After  we  got  out  of  school  and  began  to 
learn  a  few  things  by  experience,  a  lot  of  us  got 
the  notion  that  we  could  learn  everything  with- 
out any  help,  and  I'm  not  sure  but  that  a  good 
many  of  us  got  another  notion  that  we  knew  so 
much  that  there  wasn't  anything  of  any  conse- 

I20 


,    More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

quence  left  worth  learning.  Anyway  nine  mer- 
chants in  ten  never  think  of  trying  to  learn  more 
about  their  business  by  studying  about  it  in  books 
and  papers. 

"  Business  isn't  a  matter  of  luck,  and  it  isn't  a 
game  that's  run  on  a  kind  of  guess-work  basis. 
It's  subject  to  certain  rules  and  it's  perfectly 
foolish  for  a  man  to  think  that  he's  born  with 
all  those  rules  in  his  head,  or  that  he  can  pick 
them  up  quicker  or  better  for  himself  than  he 
can  learn  them  out  of  a  book  written  by  some 
one  who  has  already  learned  them.  Who  would 
ever  think  of  trying  to  learn  the  rule  of  three  by 
experimenting  with  figures?  Business  is  a  lot 
more  complicated  than  arithmetic  or  geography 
or  spelling.  It's  as  complicated  as  all  of  them, 
and  then  some.  There  isn't  any  one  text  book 
that  covers  the  whole  of  it.  It's  too  big  a  sub- 
ject. A  fellow  has  to  dig  into  a  lot  of  different 
books  to  get  what  he  wants.  He  finds  some 
things  in  one,  some  in  another,  and  more  yet  in 
the  trade  journals. 

"  And  what  I'm  getting  at  in  all  this  talk  is 
that  the  trade  journal  is  the  place  where  a  man 
ought  to  go  for  information  about  how  to  develop 
his  business,  how  to  get  more  customers,  how- 
to  make  better  profits.  The  trade  journal  is  the 
text  book  of  the  business.     There  are  plenty  of 

121 


i' 


I 

I 

i 


I 


it 

I 


1 
I 


A 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

these  trade  papers  in  every  line  and  the  man  who 
is  in  business  ought  to  have  a  good  one  covering 
every  line  of  goods  that  he  handles.  Just  taking 
one  paper  doesn't  help  enough.  One  is  good  but 
more  are  better.  You  don't  want  to  look  for 
very  much  results  from  a  homeopathic  treatment 
of  trade  journals. 

"There  was  a  time  when  men  bought  stores 
and  stocked  them  with  goods,  sold  the  goods 
and  put  the  money  into  a  sliding  box  they  called 
a  money  drawer  and  took  it  out  again  as  they 
needed  it  for  cigars  or  family  expenses  or  to 
buy  more  goods  with.  They  kept  this  up  till 
they  were  finally  closed  out  by  death  or  the  sher- 
iff. 

"  People  don't  do  business  that  way  any  more. 
They  have  a  system.  They  have  studied  how  to 
do  business  and  they  have  learned  better  ways 
of  handling  all  kinds  of  transactions.  Now, 
there  was  old  Josey  Gk>rdon  who  kept  the  market 
on  the  corner  of  Greene  street  before  you  can 
remember.  He  sold  a  ham  one  day  and  forgot 
to  charge  it.  When  it  came  time  to  close  up  at 
night  he  remembered  selling  the  ham  but  he 
couldn't  for  the  life  of  him  remember  who 
bought  it.  So  he  charged  it  up  to  everybody 
who'd  had  anything  charged  that  day  and  they 
all  paid  for  it  but  one  man  and  he  skipped  with- 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

out  paying  his  bill  at  all.  That  proves  there's 
money  in  a  credit  business,  but  it  proves  too  that 
a  man  needs  to  have  a  system  that  will  keep  him 
from  neglecting  charges  and  other  things.  And 
the  place  to  learn  about  systems  and  about  every 
other  thing  that  helps  business  is  right  in  the 
pages  of  the  trade  journals. 

"  Why,  Henry,  ten  dollars  a  year  invested  in 
trade  journal  subscriptions  will  keep  a  man  in 
touch  with  the  very  latest  in  business  methods 
all  along  the  line  and  it  will  keep  him  posted  on 
the  newest  goods  of  every  kind  he  sells  and  it 
will  bring  him  in  returns  that  will  be  a  good 
many  times  the  ten  dollars. 

"  IVe  picked  up  more  live  sellers  from  the 
trade  papers  and  their  advertising  pages  than  I 
ever  got  from  the  jobbers'  salesmen  who  used  to 
call  on  me.  A  traveling  man  is  all  right.  I  like 
them  and  I  believe  in  treating  them  right,  but  I 
believe  they  are  working  for  their  own  houses 
and  they  miss  a  lot  of  things  that  the  trade  pa- 
pers tell  about  and  that  other  houses  carry. 

"  The  man  who  tries  to  hitch  along  without 
reading  anything  about  what's  going  on  outside 
in  his  lines  of  goods  is  pretty  sure  to  develop 
into  a  Grandfather  Man,  a  man  who's  satisfied  to 
run  things  the  way  his  father  and  his  grand- 
father  ran   them   before   him.    That's   a   nice, 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

quiet,  peaceful  way  of  doing  business  but  it  won't 
get  you  very  far  along. 

*  "  A  man  can't  stand  still.  It  he  isn't  growing 
into  a  better  business  man,  he's  dropping  back 
into  being  a  poorer  one.  What  do  you  think 
of  a  doctor  or  a  lawyer  who  starts  in  to  practice 
and  gives  up  studying  his  profession  and  depends 
upon  his  own  experiences  to  keep  him  up  to  the 
times?  You  think  he's  not  of  much  account, 
don't  you  ?  There  can't  any  doctor  in  that  class 
cut  out  my  vermiform  appendix.  No  sir. 
When  I  want  first  class  medical  advice  I'm  going 
to  a  doctor  who  gets  the  medical  journals  and 
reads  them. 

"  That  last  is  a  pretty  important  part  of  it  too. 
It  isn't  going  to  help  a  man's  business  much  to 
subscribe  for  a  lot  of  trade  journals  and  then 
run  through  them  and  read  the  jokes  and  look 
at  the  pictures  and  drop  them  into  the  waste 
basket.  Handling  trade  journals  that  way 
would  help  a  merchant's  business  just  about  as 
much  as  buying  a  bottle  of  liniment  and  rubbing 
the  wrapper  on  his  back  would  help  his  rheuma- 
tism. You've  got  to  get  out  what's  in  the  bottle, 
what's  in  the  journal,  or  it  won't  do  you  a  bit 
of  good.  Show  me  a  man's  trade  journals  after 
they've  been  in  his  store  a  month  and  I'll  tell  you 
what  kind  of  a  business  man  he  is. 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  Of  course  all  these  trade  journals  are  pub- 
lished to  make  money,  but  I  don't  believe  that 
any  of  them  can  make  much  money  unless  they 
are  a  success  at  showing  their  readers  how  to 
make  it.  A  man  will  perhaps  subscribe  for  a 
trade  paper  for  one  year  without  knowing  that 
it's  any  good,  but  they  won't  catch  him  the  next 
year.  After  he's  wise  to  its  contents,  if  it  hasn't 
made  good  with  him,  back  into  the  post  office  it 
goes,  marked  '  Refused.'  I've  cut  off  enough  of 
them  myself  because  they  weren't  helping  me. 
But  the  poor  ones  are  pretty  well  weeded  out 
now.  They've  gone  to  the  magazine  graveyard 
where  they  belong. 

"  You  don't  want  to  stop  with  what  informa- 
tion you  can  get  out  of  the  trade  journal  pages. 
You  want  to  feel  free  to  write  to  the  editor 
about  anything.  If  you  want  information  about 
anything  that  you  can't  locate  anywhere  else, 
write  to  the  editor  of  a  trade  journal  and  I'll 
bet  you'll  get  what  you're  after.  These  trade 
journal  fellows  don't  know  everything  them- 
selves, but  I've  noticed  that  any  information  that 
they  haven't  got  on  tap  they  can  get  or  can  tell 
you  where  you  can  get  it.  I  never  saw  one  of 
them  stuck  yet. 

"  The  trade  journal  gets  a  man  closer  to  the 
market.     Most  of  us  live  a  good  ways  from  the 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

big  markets,  from  the  centers  where  the  new 
goods  are  coming  out  and  from  where  the  styles 
are  set.  Of  course  the  new  things  get  around 
to  us  after  a  while  by  the  regular  route  but  some- 
times they  come  too  late  to  be  of  much  use.  The 
mail  order  buyers  in  town  beat  us  to  it.  They 
see  the  new  things  advertised  in  the  city  dailies 
and  send  for  them  and  by  the  time  our  stock 
comes,  everyone  is  supplied.  There  isn't  any 
need  of  a  man  being  so  far  behind  in  getting  the 
late  goods,  because  he  can  learn  about  them  in 
the  trade  journals  just  as  soon  as  they  are  in  the 
market. 

"  What  a  man  can't  find  in  the  reading  pages 
of  a  first  class  trade  journal  he  can  find  in  the 
advertising  pages,  and  I'm  not  at  all  sure  that 
they  aren't  the  best  pages  anyway.  If  I  couldn't 
have  but  part  of  some  of  the  trade  maga- 
zines I  know  of,  I'd  choose  the  advertising  part. 
And  I  wouldn't  stop  with  choosing  it  either.  Fd 
use  it.  I'd  sit  down  every  time  a  new  number 
came  and  I'd  go  right  through  it  and  answer 
every  advertisement  of  goods  that  there  was  any 
possibility  of  my  selling.  Of  course  this  would 
result  in  a  lot  of  information  that  I  might  not 
care  for,  but  if  I  got  just  one  good  and  profitable 
line  or  item  out  of  the  lot,  it  would  pay  me  well. 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

One  good  line  may  make  the  difference  between 
the  success  and  the  failure  of  a  store. 

"You  don't  find  any  fake  advertisers  in  the 
pages  of  a  good  trade  journal  now  any  more  than 
you  do  in  any  high  class  magazine.  Every  adver- 
tisement is  worth  noticing  and  most  of  them  are 
worth  answering. 

"You  asked  me  how  you  could  make  more 
money  and  I  told  you  that  I  would  tell  you  where 
you  could  find  out  how.  Well,  I  haven't  been 
very  far  off  from  the  track  any  of  the  time. 
You  can  find  out  from  the  trade  journals  how 
to  make  more  money  and  how  to  do  more  busi- 
ness. The  journals  that  you  can  get  nowadays 
are  full  of  stuff  written  by  the  best  men  in  the 
business  in  the  country  and  those  fellows  are 
telling  you  in  every  issue  how  you  can  improve 
your  business  condition  and  develop  more  trade. 
They  know  what  they're  talking  about.  You 
can  get  the  best  brains  in  your  line  of  business 
all  working  for  you  for  a  few  dollars  every  year. 
The  trade  journal  is  the  dealer's  best  help. 

"  Every  merchant  ought  to  clip  out  of  his  trade 
journals  all  the  items  of  interest  in  them  and 
he  ought  to  put  these  clippings  into  scrap  books 
or  into  alphabetical  files.  A  good  way  is  to  have 
a  lot  of  big  envelopes  numbered  from  *  i '  up, 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


Every  merchant  ought  to  put  these  clippings  into  scrap 

books'' 


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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

and  in  an  indexed  memorandum  bcMDk,  list  under 
'  A '  the  subjects  like  Advertising,  Advertise- 
ment Writing,  Awnings,  and  anything  else  of 
interest  to  the  management  of  the  store  and  be- 
ginning with  A,  and  give  the  number  of  the  file 
where  you  keep  clippings  on  those  subjects. 
The  same  plan  should  be  followed  right  through 
the  alphabet.  Of  course  the  names  of  the  sub- 
jects covered  by  the  contents  should  be  on  the 
envelopes  too. 

"  With  a  set  of  clippings  like  this  growing  big- 
ger all  the  time,  a  man  would  always  Jiave  a  lot 
of  good  ideas  to  turn  to  on  any  subject  he  was  in- 
terested in.  This  plan  of  filing  the  clippings 
under  alphabetical  headings  is  better  than  a  scrap 
book,  unless  you  want  to  make  a  whole  set  of 
scrap  books,  one  covering  each  subject. 

"  Ideas  that  you  don't  need  just  now  will  come 
in  handy  later  and  there's  plenty  of  matter 
printed  in  the  trade  papers  that  never  gets  printed 
anywhere  else  and  that's  mighty  well  worth  sav- 
ing too. 

*'  You  don't  want  to  stop  with  reading  the 
trade  papers  yourself.  You  want  everybody 
connected  with  the  store  to  read  them.  The 
more  a  clerk  learns  about  the  business  and  the 
faster  he  learns  it,  the  more  he  will  be  worth  to 
the  store.     I  believe  that  it  pays  a  man  to  sub-  ' 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

scribe  for  a  good  trade  journal  to  be  sent  right 
to  the  home  address  of  his  clerk,  of  each  of  them 
if  he  has  more  than  one.  Then  the  young  man 
or  the  girl  will  get  time  to  read  it  and  develop 
all  the  more  interest  in  the  business  in  general 
and  in  your  business  in  particular. 

"  Well,  Henry,  I  don't  want  to  tire  you  all  out 
with  this  trade  journal  talk.  Fm  kind  of  a  crank 
on  the  subject.  Even  if  I'm  not  in  business  any 
longer  myself  I  take  all  the  trade  journals  I  can 
find  in  the  lines  I  used  to  sell  and  I  read  them 
too.  They  suit  me  better  than  some  of  these 
pretty  girl  near-fiction  magazines  that  give  a  fel- 
low the  mental  indigestion  once  a  month. 

"  You  try  subscribing  for  the  journals  in  your 
line  and  if  you  can't  find  out  which  are  the  good 
ones,  call  on  me  and  I'll  pick  them  out  for  you. 
I'm  going  home  now  and  read  a  batch  that  came 
yesterday.  Give  me  a  '  quarter's '  worth  of 
those  Royal  Kings  and  I'll  beat  it." 

Tobias  was  no  sooner  out  of  sight  than  Henry 
sat  down  to  write  for  sample  copies  of  the  jour- 
nals he  knew  about.  He  knew  that  the  Old 
Storekeeper  was  pretty  nearly  the  best  judge  of 
what  would  help  a  man  get  business  and  he  pro- 
posed to  follow  the  advice  he  had  received. 


130 


NINTH  TALK 


THE  TRAVELING   MAN 

The  health  of  the  Old  Storekeeper's  wife  made 
it  necessary  for  him  to  spend  the  winter  in  the 
south  that  year  and  as  he  left  very  soon  after  the 
last  talk  with  Barlow,  he  did  not  have  a  chance 
to  see  him  again  for  more  than  a  few  minutes  at 
a  time  before  going. 

The  leaves  were  just  coming  out  green  again 
when  Tobias  came  back  to  Hampton  and  he  lost 
no  time  the  morning  after  his  arrival  in  getting 
down  town  to  see  what  changes  had  taken  place 
in  his  absence  and  to  shake  hands  with  his  old 
friends. 

There  was  not  a  more  popular  man  in  town 
than  Tobias  Jenkins.  He  had  been  asked  two  or 
three  times,  once  at  least  by  each  political  party, 
to  run  for  county  sheriff  and  had  refused,  which 
left  him  more  friends  than  he  would  have  had 
if  he  had  run,  whatever  the  result  of  the  contest 
might  have  been. 

One  of  the  first  things  he  noticed  was  the  fact 

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14 


"He  noticed  a  shiny  automobile  delivery  car.' 


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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

that  Larry  Benjamin's  windows  were  dirty  and 
the  displays  in  them  untidy.  That  set  him  think- 
ing. 

The  next  thing  he  noticed  was  a  shiny  automo- 
bile deHvery  car  scooting  up  the  street  with 
''  Barlow's  "  in  big  red  letters  on  the  side. 

"Well,  well,  well,"  he  ejaculated  under  his 
breath.  "This  certainly  does  look  as  if  John 
had  things  coming  his  way." 

He  had  not  quite  reached  Barlow's  store  when 
he  met  the  proprietor  coming  up  the  street.  As 
soon  as  the  latter  saw  Tobias,  he  quickened  his 
steps  and  came  up  to  him  with  his  hand  out- 
stretched and  greeted  him  cordially,  though  no 
more  so  than  Tobias  greeted  his  successor.  All 
of  the  Old  Storekeeper's  rough  and  ready  advice, 
though  much  of  it  was  not  very  pleasant  to  hear 
or  take,  had  not  lessened  Barlow's  liking  for  him 
in  any  degree. 

"  I  certainly  am  glad  to  see  you  back  again," 
said  the  younger  man.  "  It  has  been  a  mighty 
long  and  cold  winter  and  you  didn't  make  any 
mistake  getting  away  from  it.  How's  Mrs  Ten- 
kins  ?  " 

"Oh,  she's  a  hundred  per  cent,  better.  I'm 
pretty  darned  glad  to  be  back  myself.  No  going 
South  for  mine.  Good  old  snow  suits  me  in  the 
winter  time.     Say,  what  on  earth  have  you  been 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

doing  to  Larry  Benjamin?  And  where  did  you 
get  that  automobile  ?  It  is  a  good  thing  for  me 
to  go  out  of  town  once  in  a  while  I  guess." 

"  Well,  Mr.  Jenkins,  I  must  say  that  it  looks  as 
if  things  were  coming  my  way.  Come  along  up 
to  the  house  while  I  take  up  this  mail  for  mother 
and  ril  tell  you  the  story  of  my  life." 

They  turned  and  went  up  the  street  together 
arm  in  arm  like  a  couple  of  old  cronies.  On  the 
way  Barlow  told  about  what  he  had  done  to 
boom  his  business  during  the  winter. 

He  had  taken  the  advice  of  Tobias  and  bought 
a  delivery  car  which  he  had  run  all  winter  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  times  when  there  was  too 
much  snow.  He  had  extended  his  free  delivery 
service  to  a  radius  of  five  miles  from  the  store 
and  by  this  means  had  cornered  all  the  trade  of 
the  farmers  living  inside  of  that  distance.  It 
had  been  necessary  to  assist  the  auto  at  times 
with  a  bicycle  delivery  by  the  youngest  clerk  but 
the  expense  had  proved  no  more  than  his  previ- 
ous delivery  expense  and  the  results  in  gain  in 
business  alone  had  paid  for  the  car. 

His  clerks  had  all  felt  as  if  the  store  had  ad- 
vanced in  class  and  they  had  developed  into 
higher  class  help  and  better  dressed  and  better 
acting  people.  So  much  for  the  influence  of  a 
single  improvement. 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

And  most  important  of  all  he  had  won  the 
love  of  Dolly  Dingle  and  told  Tobias,  with  all  the 
satisfaction  of  an  accepted  lover,  that  they  were 
going  to  be  married  in  the  fall. 

Tobias  received  all  this  news  with  a  cordial 
interest,  and  extended  congratulations  enthusi- 
astically. When  at  last  he  had  the  whole  story, 
he  said, 

"  This  has  been  your  busy  winter  all  right, 
hasn't  it?  I  hope  you  won't  get  the  idea  that 
because  things  are  coming  your  way  you  can  sit 
down  and  watch  'em  come.  The  more  they 
come,  the  more  you  want  to  keep  after  'em." 

"  I'm  going  to  try  not  to  let  up  on  it  a  bit. 
Fve  decided  not  to  take  any  vacation  this  sum- 
mer. Instead  I'm  going  to  take  half  days  off  at 
a  time  and  use  them  working  on  our  place,  get- 
ting the  garden  and  yard  looking  better." 

"  You  are  certainly  getting  domestic  with  a 
vengeance,"  said  Tobias.  "  I  guess  I'll  go  in  and 
look  at  your  garden  now." 

"  It's  just  being  worked.  I'm  going  to  put  in 
an  hour  there  this  morning  and  if  you'll  come 
along  I'll  show  you  a  good  imitation  of  a  man 
working." 

The  two  went  out  through  to  the  garden  in  ,. 
the  rear  of  Barlow's  home  and  just  as  Tobias 


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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

had  settled  down  on  a  comfortable  bench  and  the 
younger  man  had  got  his  coat  off  one  of  the 
clerks  came  in  on  a  bicycle  and  called  to  his  em- 
ployer, "There's  a  traveling  man  down  at  the 
store  to  see  you.  He  says  he's  got  a  new  line  of 
fall  dress  goods." 

"Tell  him  there's  nothing  doing,"  shouted 
Barlow  and  went  on  getting  out  his  tools. 

The  clerk  turned  and  went  back.  Tobias  sat 
and  smoked  in  silence  while  Barlow  raked 
away  at  a  lettuce  bed,  getting  ready  to  put  in 
the  seed. 

Finally  he  stopped  and  exclaimed, 

"  That  fellow  must  have  had  his  nerve  rieht 
with  him !  "  ^ 

"  You  mean  the  drummer  ?  " 
Yes,  of  course.  A  fellow  can't  get  far 
enough  away  from  his  store  so  that  one  of  those 
fellows  won't  be  on  his  track.  I  wouldn't  be 
surprised  if  that  chap  would  be  up  here  to  try 
and  drag  me  down  there  to  see  his  fall  goods  yet. 
I'm  not  in  any  hurry  to  see  fall  goods  as  I  know 
of." 

"  Do  you  know  whose  line  this  is  ?  " 

"  No,    and    I    don't   care.     There's   plenty   of 

lines  of  goods  in  the  market.     There  can't  any 

one  house  claim  to  have  them  all." 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  I  suppose,  though,  there  is  a  best  house,"  said 
Tobias  quietly. 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know  as  any  one  house  can  be 
better  than  all  the  rest." 

"  I  think  that  very  likely  if  you  could  know 
all  about  all  the  houses  that  cover  this  territory 
you  would  find  that  some  one  house  is  really 
better  than  any  of  the  others,  but  aside  from 
that  you  will  admit  that  some  houses  have  lines 
that  are  ahead  of  similar  lines  in  other  houses. 
Almost  any  house  has  some  pretty  good  advan- 
tages to  offer  in  specialties." 

''  Oh  yes,"  Barlow  admitted,  "  the  woods  are 
full  of  good  houses." 

"They  are  hardly  as  plenty  as  that.  I  don't 
believe  you  could  count  up  a  very  large  number 
that  you  want  to  buy  from.  What  sticks  me  is 
how  you  know  that  you  don't  want  any  of  this 
man's  goods.  You  didn't  even  ask  what  house 
he  represented. 

"  How  do  you  know  that  he  hasn't  got  just 
exactly  what  you  want  in  fall  stuff?  He  may 
have  some  of  the  best  selling  goods.  He  may 
have  some  goods  that  you  could  use  for  leaders 
to  outsell  the  other  stores.  There's  no  limit  to 
the  things  he  might  have  —  and  you  didn't  even 
ask  who  he  was." 

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"  I  know  what  I  want  and  I  don't  believe  any 
traveling  man  can  tell  me  more  about  my  busi- 
ness than  I  know,"  and  Barlow  began  digging 
viciously  in  the  lettuce  bed. 

"  I  don't  know  how  much  you  know,  but  I 
never  yet  found  any  one  man  who  knew  it  all, 
though  I've  found  lots  of  them  that  thought  they 
did.  And  you  may  be  surprised  to  know  that 
I'm  willing  to  bet  money  that  this  drummer,  I 
don't  know  who  he  is  either,  can  tell  you  some 
things  about  your  business  that  you  don't  know.'* 

"  What,  for  instance  ?  " 

"  For  one  thing,  he  knows  what  kinds  of  goods 
you  are  going  to  have  the  most  demand  for  the 
coming  fall.  His  house  isn't  going  ahead  and 
making  up  big  quantities  of  certain  goods  with- 
out some  reason  for  thinking  they  are  going  to 
sell.  You  yourself  won't  know,  unless  you  find 
out  from  some  outside  source,  what's  going  to 
sell  except  by  waiting  to  see  what  the  women  of 
the  town  come  in  and  ask  for.  I  say  '  women,' 
because  they  are  the  makers  of  '  best  sellers.' 

"  And  then,  too,  this  drummer  no  doubt  knows 
something  about  what  the  other  stores  in  Hamp- 
ton are  doing  or  planning  to  do.  Just  as  like  as 
not  he  was  saving  something  pretty  good  to  show 
you  because  he  has  heard  that  you  are  doing  the 
best  business  here,  and  more  than  likely  he  is 

138 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

now  on  his  way  to  Larry  Benjamin's  to  give  him 
the  chance  that  you  threw  away. 

"  Styles  are  not  made  or  started  in  Hampton. 
You  can't  set  a  style  on  anything  and  even  Miss 
Dolly  Dingle  can't.  The  style  has  got  to  come 
from  outside  and  who's  going  to  bring  it? 

"  You  may  foot  the  bill  but  somebody  else  has 
got  to  tell  you  what  to  buy.  Suppose  all  the 
new  goods  for  next  fall  were  to  be  spread  out 
before  you  without  anyone  to  say  a  word  about 
any  of  them  and  you  were  allowed  to  go  ahead 
and  pick  out  your  own  line.  A  pretty  lot  of 
stickers  you'd  land! 

"  No  sir,  there  can't  any  man  go  ahead  with- 
out looking  to  right  or  left  or  paying  any  atten- 
tion to  anyone  unless  he  happens  to  feel  just  like 
it,  and  get  very  far.  You  can't  act  that  way  with 
people  you  want  to  have  buy  goods  from  you, 
and  you  can't  act  that  way  with  people  who  want 
to  sell  you  goods. 

"  Of  course  a  salesman  will  stand  for  a  certain 
amount  of  rudeness  just  because  he  needs  the 
money  but  you  know  how  you  feel  about  giving 
any  special  bargains  or  privileges  to  a  customer 
who  comes  in  and  walks  over  you  rough-shod  or 
who  treats  you  like  a  necessary  evil." 

"  What  do  you  want  me  to  do  ?  "  asked  Bar- 
low a  little  sarcastically,  "  Shall  I  run  right  down 

139 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

to  the  store  and  get  down  on  my  knees  and  beg 
this  traveling  man  to  be  so  kind  as  to  let  me  buy 
something  from  him  ?  " 

'*  No,  because  you  would  be  humbling  yourself 
needlessly.  He  probably  wouldn't  sell  to  you 
now  anyway.  But  I'd  turn  over  a  new  leaf  and 
see  if  I  couldn't  treat  other  people  who  are  selling 
goods  at  least  as  well  as  you  get  treated  your- 
self. 

''  There  was  a  time  perhaps  when  drummers 
were  a  nuisance.  They  would  come  in  and  if 
the  merchant  treated  them  with  any  consideration 
at  all  they  would  load  him  up  to  the  ears  with 
anything  he  would  let  them  send.  They  were 
sharpers  in  many  cases  but  they  had  to  be  because 
the  merchants  in  those  times  were  sharpers  too. 
But  there's  a  different  standard  today  for  both 
sides  of  the  deal.  The  traveling  man  who  is 
going  to  make  good  has  to  make  a  good  impres- 
sion first.  Then  he  has  to  sell  square  goods  and 
treat  the  buyer  right. 

"  Of  course  there  are  still  some  drummers  who 
will  stuff  your  order  and  who  will  insist  upon 
selling  you  whether  you  want  to  buy  or  not  and 
who  are  regular  old-fashioned  bores.  But 
there's  less  and  less  of  'em.  I  don't  ask  you  to 
waste  time  on  a  drummer  or  to  visit  with  one 
when  you  haven't  the  time.     And  I'd  sit  on  one 

140 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

that  can't  act  like  a  gentleman.  But  you  can't 
tell  how  to  treat  one  until  he  has  had  his  chance 
with  you. 

"  When  a  man  comes  in  and  says  he  is  from 
So-and-so  and  has  a  line  of  fall  samples  he  would 
like  to  show  you,  treat  him  like  a  white  man.  If 
you  want  to  visit  with  him,  all  well  and  good,  but 
if  you  don't,  and  it  isn't  profitable  to  spend  much 
time  in  aimless  visiting,  ask  him  what  line  he 
carries.  Appoint  a  time  when  you  will  look 
over  the  goods  and  be  ready  at  that  time.  Give 
him  a  chance  to  say  his  say  about  the  goods. 
Hold  him  down  to  business  as  close  as  3^ou  want 
to  and  keep  him  going  if  your  time  is  short. 

"If  you  can't  take  time  to  look  at  them,  ask 
him  to  excuse  you  and  if  you  are  polite  about  it 
and  sincere  he  has  no  kick  coming  and  you  are 
justified  in  ignoring  him  if  he  gets  mad.  If  you 
don't  want  to  buy  after  seeing  the  goods,  say  so 
and  excuse  yourself.  Any  time  when  a  drummer 
gets  peevish  while  being  treated  politely  and 
fairly,  you  cease  to  be  under  any  obligations  to 
extend  him  any  further  courtesies.  Let  him 
alone  then. 

"These  persistent,  insistent  bores  are  getting 
scarcer  and  scarcer  and  most  travelers  are  willing 
to  admit  that  a  merchant  knows  whether  he 
wants  to  buy  or  not  after  seeing  the  goods  or 

141 


h\ 


Ivl 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

hearing  the  story  about  the  proposition.  Of 
course  you  know  how  to  run  your  own  business. 
I'm  not  saying  you  don't.  I'm  only  calling  your 
attention  to  the  fact  that  you  can  always  learn 
from  a  good  traveling  man." 

"Oh,  yes,  of  course,"  admitted  Barlow. 
"  They  know  a  good  deal  about  what's  what  but 
there  are  some  that  I  can't  bear  at  all." 

"  Well,  there  are  some  girls  that  you  can't  bear 
at  all,  but  that  hasn't  kept  you  from  liking  one 
pretty  well,  I  notice.  You  can't  afford  to  get 
sore  on  a  whole  class  of  people  just  because  some 
of  the  members  of  that  class  are  crooked. 
What  would  you  think  of  a  woman  who  wouldn't 
buy  anything  from  any  merchant  in  Hampton 
just  because  she  found  that  one  of  the  local  mer- 
chants was  crooked  ?  " 

"  That's  different." 

''No,  it  ain't  different  either.  It's  the  same 
darned  idea.  You're  nothing  but  a  drummer 
yourself  only  you  do  all  your  drumming  right 
here  in   one  place  instead  of  going  about  the 

country." 

"  I'll  be  good,"  said  Barlow,  resting  on  his  hoe. 
"  There's  one  important  item  of  news  that  I  for- 
got to  tell  you.  There's  going  to  be  a  new  store 
in  town.  A  fellow  from  nobody  knows  where 
has  bought  out  Tim  Johnson's  little  shop  and 

142 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

he's  going  to  occupy  that  whole  building  and 
open  the  same  sort  of  a  store  I'm  running." 

Tobias  gave  an  exclamatory  whistle.  "  That  is 
news,"  said  he.  "  I  wouldn't  wonder  if  he  might 
give  you  a  run  for  your  money.  When  is  he 
going  to  open  ?  '* 

"  Don't  know.  It  was  just  in  the  paper  last 
week  that  Mr.  J.  C.  Flint  would  open  a  store  in 
the  Tim  Johnson  stand  in  a  few  weeks,  and  since 
then  the  carpenters  have  been  pretty  busy  at  work 
there,  though  they  keep  the  curtains  down  and 
their  mouths  shut  about  what  they're  doing." 

"  He's  a  foxy  fellow,  isn't  he  ?  He's  going  to 
have  the  public's  curiosity  aroused  anyway,  and 
that's  what  makes  an  opening  of  a  new  store  a 
success.  Well,  what're  you  going  to  do  to  offset 
his  efforts  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  don't  believe  he  can  get  my  trade  away 
from  me.  I've  been  here  long  enough  to  have  a 
hold  on  the  people  and  I'll  just  keep  up  a  good 
line  of  advertising  and  while  he'll  get  the  floaters 
and  'most  everyone  will  drop  in  there  once  in  a 
while,  but  they'll  come  back  to  the  old  reliable." 

"  I  hope  you're  a  good  prophet,  my  boy,  but 
it  wouldn't  surprise  me  any  if  this  Mr.  Flint  would 
have  you  scared  before  he  gets  through  with  you. 
And  what  surprises  me  is  that  you  would  turn 
away  a  drummer  the  way  you  did  when  there's  a 

143 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

new  store  getting  ready  to  start.  Why,  say,  you 
need  to  be  on  the  lookout  for  chances  to  buy 
right  and  to  get  new  things  more  than  ever  be- 
fore. You  need  that  drummer  a  good  deal  more 
than  he  needs  vou." 

It  was  evident  that  Barlow  thought  the  Old 
Storekeeper  over-estimated  the  dangers  of  the 
situation.  He  himself  felt  secure  in  his  position 
and  had  no  idea  of  paying  any  special  attention  to 
the  newcomer.  On  this  account  he  was  not  wor- 
rying over  how  he  might  treat  a  traveling  man 
or  what  the  result  of  the  new  competition  might 
turn  out  to  be. 

In  this  he  certainly  did  make  a  mistake  because 
it  does  not  matter  what  a  new  competitor  may 
amount  to,  as  long  as  there  is  an  element  of  un- 
certainty. His  plans  should  be  met  with  your 
plans.  His  plans  for  getting  business  should  be 
met  with  plans  for  holding  business.  Any  new 
store  is  sure  to  develop  more  or  less  trade  which 
must  come  from  the  old  stores.  It  is  up  to  the 
old  stores  to  get  busy  if  they  expect  to  hold  their 
own. 

At  last  Barlow  finished  his  lettuce  bed  and  he 
and  Tobias  went  downtown  but  the  matter  of  the 
new  store  was  not  referred  to  again  that  day. 


144 


TENTH  TALK 


A   NEW   COMPETITOR  OPENS 


Charley  Morrison  had  just  returned  from  din- 
ner, and  as  business  was  pretty  slow  that  day  he 
sat  by  his  office  desk,  though  he  did  not  boast  an 
office,  smoking  a  good  cigar  and  waiting  for 
either  a  customer  or  a  visitor. 

Although  the  drug  business  had  not  amassed 
him  any  fortune,  it  is  probable  that  he  was  more 
glad  to  see  Tobias  Jenkins  come  in  for  a  visit 
than  he  would  have  been  to  see  someone  come  in 
with  a  prescription  that  would  have  spoiled  the 
enjoyment  of  his  smoke. 

"Hello,  Tobias,"  he  greeted  the  Old  Store- 
keeper. "  Never  mind  buying  a  cigar.  Come 
over  and  sit  down  here  and  take  one  on  the  house. 
I  don't  feel  like  waiting  on  customers  just  now." 

"  The  first  you  know,"  said  Tob^'ss,  "  you'll  be 
in  the  same  boat  as  Joel  Jenks  was  when  he  was 
running  the  baseball  team  last  summer.  It  kept 
him  so  busy  writing  for  players  and  telephoning 
for  games  that  nobody  could  ever  get  waited  on 

145 


Ml' 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

in  his  store,  and  one  day  Mrs.  Smith  went  in  and 
after  she  had  waited  till  he  finished  a  telephone 
conversation  about  some  game  or  other  and  came 
out  behind  the  counter,  she  said,  '  I'm  sorry  to 
bother  you,  Mr.  Jenks,  but  I  wanted  to  get  some 
spool  cotton/ 

"  Joel  didn't  say  anything,  but  he  sold  her  what 
she  wanted  and  went  back  and  sat  down  to  think 
it  over.  He  told  me  afterward  that  he  thought 
to  himself,  '  By  George,  when  it  gets  to  where 
my  customers  have  to  apologize  for  asking  me 
to  sell  'em  goods  I'd  better  cut  out  some  of  this 
outside  business  and  'tend  to  my  own  a  little 
closer.'  He  resigned  his  baseball  job  right  then 
and  there  once  and  for  all." 

"I'm  not  in  the  baseball  business,"  said  the 
druggist.  "In  my  case  it's  just  plain  laziness. 
How's  this  new  store  getting  along?  I  wonder  if 
this  J.  C.  Flint  fellow  is  going  to  get  Barlow's 
trade  away  from  him  ?  " 

"  No,  I  don't  believe  so ;  but  between  you  and 
me,  Charley,  he's  going  to  give  him  a  good  scare 
before  he  gets  through  with  it.  Barlow's  all 
right  and  he's  got  a  good  hold  on  his  trade,  but 
he  doesn't  realize  that  a  man  can't  let  a  live  com- 
petitor like  Flint  open  up  a  brand  new  store  right 
in  his  own  line  and  just  a  few  doors  away  and 

146 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

expect  to  keep  all  his  business  without  doing 
something  extra  to  hold  it. 

"  Flint  hasn't  got  much  money  but  he's  a 
hustler.  If  Barlow  lets  him  get  a  good  start  he 
may  get  away  from  him.  You  know  how  it  was 
when  the  boys  got  up  that  bicycle  race  last  Fourth 
of  July  and  gave  old  Peter  Brown  ten  minutes 
start  just  for  a  joke?  Peter  fooled  'em  and 
walked  off  with  the  prize.  You  don't  want  to 
give  anybody  any  more  start  on  you  in  a  race  for 
trade  than  you  absolutely  have  to.  It's  hard 
enough  in  these  days  of  competition  to  get  your 
share  of  the  business  when  you  start  out  on  even 
terms  with  the  rest. 

"  Sometimes  these  dark  horses  show  a  lot  more 
speed  than  anybody  thought  they  could.  That's 
where  this  early  closing  plan  falls  down  a  good 
many  times.  The  merchants  that  think  they  are 
the  whole  show  in  town  agree  to  shut  up  at  six 
o'clock  every  night  but  Saturday.  The  little  fel- 
low that  has  just  started  in  around  the  corner 
won't  go  into  the  pool  and  they  think  it  doesn't 
make  any  difference.  But  by  and  by  they  wake 
up  and  find  that  he's  been  selling  evenings  to 
their  customers  and  treating  them  so  well  that 
they're  going  there  daytimes  too." 

"  Flint  has  made  his  store  look  pretty  nice  on 

147 


^_ 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


*^Made  his  store  look  pretty  nice  on  the  outside," 


148 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

the  outside.     It  doesn't  look  much  like  it  used 
to  before  he  moved  in  there." 

"  Yes,"  continued  Tobias,  "  and  that  isn't  all. 
He's  made  it  look  pretty  nice  on  the  inside  too. 
First  he  tore  out  a  lot  of  partitions  and  made  it 
look  twice  as  big  as  it  was,  and  by  using  mirrors 
and  putting  in  some  more  windows  he  made  it 
look  pretty  near  twice  as  big  as  it  is.  It  pays  to 
make  a  store  look  big  instead  of  small  and  fussy 
like  a  two-for-a-cent  millinery  shop.  I  don't 
mean  that  a  big  and  empty  store  looks  better  than 
a  small  and  full  one.  It  doesn't.  But  a  man 
ought  to  make  his  store  look  as  big  as  he  can 
without  having  it  look  bare  in  spots  like  a  dog 
with  the  mange.  You  want  a  nice  coating  of 
goods  over  all  the  shelves  and  places  where  goods 
are  supposed  to  be." 

"  Flint  has  done  that  alright." 

"  Yes,  Flint  has  been  pretty  foxy  that  way.  I 
don't  believe  he  has  a  very  big  stock  but  he's  got 
it  spread  out.  There  are  goods  everywhere  you 
look,  unless  some  of  them  are  dummies  and  that 
doesn't  make  any  great  difference  because  every- 
body thinks  they're  goods.  Instead  of  piling 
away  a  lot  of  goods  in  the  back  room  and  giving 
one  item  one  space  on  the  shelf,  he  gives  that 
item  a  whole  shelf  and  makes  his  stock  go  as  far 
as  he.  can." 

149 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

*'  He's  a  good  advertiser  too,"  interjected  Mor- 
rison. 

"You  bet  he's  a  good  advertiser,  and  that's 
what  makes  these  new  fellows  dangerous  to  the 
man  who  thinks  he's  got  it  all  coming  his  way. 
There  are  a  lot  of  merchants  who  have  inherited 
or  bought  a  store  with  a  good  steady  trade,  and 
because  they  haven't  had  much  competition  to 
fight,  they  think  that  their  customers  belong  to 
'em  by  divine  right.  They  advertise  in  a  con- 
servative, quiet  kind  of  way,  and  as  long  as  no 
real  live  advertiser  comes  along  they're  all  right. 
But  some  day  along  comes  Johnny  Live  Wire 
and  opens  a  store,  and  while  the  established  chap 
is  laughing  at  him  he's  getting  busy  with  the 
advertising  and  pulling  the  business  his  way. 

"That's  what's  likely  to  happen  to  Barlow. 
He's  too  cocksure.  He's  too  darned  certain  that 
he  bought  his  customers  when  he  bought  the  store 
from  me.  Of  course  he's  held  'em  pretty  well 
because  nobody's  been  going  after  'em  much,  but 
here's  where  things  change.  I  didn't  deliver 
those  customers  to  him.  They  just  stayed  with 
him  because  they  happened  to  feel  like  it.  The 
question  is  now  how  much  longer  are  they  going 
to  feel  like  it?  I  haven't  said  anything  to  Bar- 
low.    I'm  not  going  to  butt  in. 

"  Flint  is  certainly  going  about  it  in  the  right 

150 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

way.  He  hasn't  started  in  by  telling  a  lot  of 
wonderful  things  that  he's  going  to  do,  or  by 
saying  that  he's  going  to  give  people  the  biggest 
bargains  they  ever  got.  No  sir,  he's  just  show- 
ing 'em  by  advertising  what  he  can  do  for  'em 
right  now.  What  you  tell  folks  you're  going  to 
do  doesn't  get  you  anything.  It's  what  you  really 
do  do  that  makes  the  hit. 

"  Now  Flint's  making  fine  use  of  every  window 
to  show  good  bargains  and  first-class  values. 
When  a  new  store  starts  up  people  are  looking 
for  two  things  there.  They  are  looking  for  new 
goods,  things  they  couldn't  buy  at  any  of  the  older 
stores;  and  they're  looking  for  better  prices  on 
the  lines  of  goods  they've  been  buying.  Of 
course  other  features  appeal  to  them.  A  better 
line  of  some  kind  of  goods  than  anybody  ever 
kept  in  town  before  makes  them  sit  up  and  take 
notice.  Better  service,  more  agreeable  clerks, 
quicker  delivery,  pleasanter  store ;  all  these  things 
count,  but  they  are  out  looking  for  those  two  first 
advantages. 

"  I'll  bet  you  that  Flint  knows  that.  I'll  bet 
you  that  Barlow  never  thought  of  it  in  just  that 
way.  But  I'll  tell  you  where  Flint  has  made  a  big 
mistake.  He's  tried  to  get  clerks  away  from  the 
other  stores,  and  he  succeeded  in  getting  some 
of  them  too.     In  that  way  and  in  some  other 

151 


I 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

ways  he  has  gone  right  ahead  and  made  the  mer- 
chants already  in  business  here  mad  at  him. 

"Now  take  your  own  case,  Charley.  Flint 
doesn't  handle  any  of  your  kind  of  goods,  but  I'll 
bet  a  hat  that  you  don't  think  much  of  him,  and 
I'll  bet  another  that  you  don't  know  just  why/' 

"  No,  I  don't  seem  to  take  to  him  any,  and  he 
never  did  anything  to  me  either.  He  even  comes 
in  here  and  buys  what  drugs  and  stuff  in  my  line 
he  wants,  but  I  don't  warm  up  to  him  any." 

"  Well,  this  is  the  reason  for  that.  He's  abso- 
lutely cold  blooded.  He  thinks  that  business  is 
business,  that  he  can  come  into  Hampton  and 
open  a  store  and  by  using  the  good  ideas  and 
good  sense  I've  given  him  credit  for,  he  can  get 
the  trade.  Of  course  that's  true  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent. 

''  Business  is  business,  but  I  don't  believe  that 
a  man  can  go  ahead  on  the  basis  of  '  Friendship 
ceases  when  it  comes  to  a  matter  of  dollars  and 
cents.'  If  you  do  business  in  a  town  you've  got 
to  associate  with  the  people  there,  and  you've  got 
to  be  a  part  of  them  and  a  booster  for  the  town. 
If  you  are  one  of  the  merchants  in  a  town  you've 
got  to  mingle  with  the  others  and  help  them  work 
for  the  general  good.  You  can't  expect  to  be  a 
high  private  and  yet  have  everybody  willing  to 

152 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

spend  their  money  in  your  store  and  for  your 
benefit. 

"If  you  think  that  you  can  have  a  rule  outside 
of  the  store  of  every  man  for  himself  and  the 
devil  take  the  hindmost,  and  a  rule  inside  of  it 
of  everybody  for  you,  you  are  going  to  be  fooled 
badly. 

"  Flint  ought  to  have  called  on  pretty  nearly 
every  merchant  in  town  as  soon  as  he  could,  and 
just  introduced  himself  and  said  that  he'd  come 
here  to  go  into  business  and  that  even  if  he  was 
to  be  a  competitor  he  would  try  to  be  a  friendly 
one  and  hoped  that  he  could  help  make  the  town 
a  better  business  place.  If  he'd  started  right  out 
on  a  handshaking  expedition  and  got  in  right  all 
along  the  line  he  would  have  found  Hampton  a 
lot  better  place  to  live  in  and  no  worse  place  to 
do  business  in.  Nobody  would  have  thought  he 
was  fresh  and  a  lot  of  folks  that  are  now  against 
him  would  then  have  been  strong  for  him. 

"  I  expect  that  the  man's  a  cold  blooded  fellow 
naturally.  He  is  selfish  and  he  isn't  interested 
in  anybody  but  himself.  But  that  needn't  have 
made  him  so  foolish  that  he  couldn't  see  that 
he  was  making  a  bad  break  to  try  to  steal  away 
other  merchant's  clerks.  Darn  a  man  that  will 
try  to  get  under  his  competitor's  belt  that  way! 

153 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

If  a  clerk  from  some  other  store  comes  and  asks 
you  for  a  job,  that  puts  the  responsibility  on  him 
and  it  may  be  all  right  to  take  him.  But  even 
then  I  wouldn't  take  a  competitor's  clerk  away 
at  the  expense  of  making  that  competitor  mad 
about  it.  A  fellow  can't  afford  to  rile  up  his 
competitors  unnecessarily.  It  makes  them  work 
a  lot  harder  to  hold  their  trade  and  get  more. 
The  merchants  in  a  town  make  up  a  kind  of  busi- 
ness family,  and  like  any  other  family  it's  a  good 
deal  better  to  get  along  without  scraps  and  jars. 

"  Flint  doesn't  see  you  when  he  meets  you  on 
the  street.  He  isn't  near-sighted  either.  Maybe 
he's  bashful  or  diffident.  I  don't  know.  But 
whatever  it  is  that  makes  him  that  way,  it's  a 
fault.  He  comes  in  here  and  buys  a  few  things 
from  you  and  says  it's  a  nice  day,  but  you  don't 
feel  that  he  cares  whether  he  knows  your  name 
or  not  and  the  fact  that  he  tries  to  make  up 
for  it  when  you  go  into  his  store  doesn't  make  it 
any  better. 

^ "  I  like  to  do  business  with  a  pleasant,  cordial 
kind  of  man,  no  matter  whether  I'm  buying  or 
selling.  If  I  go  into  a  store  where  everybody 
is  cheerful  arid  where  the  clerks  aren't  afraid 
to  smile  and  where  they  don't  wait  for  me  to 
insist  upon  it  before  they'll  say  good  morning, 
I  am  pretty  apt  to  buy  more  than  in  a  store 

154 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

where  everybody  looks  as  if  there'd  been  a  death 
in  the  family  that  morning.  Maybe  you  don't 
care  so  much  about  people  being  cheerful  as  I 
do,  but  by  George  I  can't  stand  a  solemn 
store ! " 

"  Nor  I,"  said  Morrison.  "  I  believe  this 
grouch  business  is  all  a  matter  of  habit  anyway.  ' 
Why,  I  had  a  clerk  once  who  never  was  known 
to  smile  on  his  job.  People  used  to  ask  me  if  he 
was  consumptive,  or  if  he  had  lost  a  relative,  or 
what  was  the  matter.  I'd  try  to  excuse  him  be- 
cause a  man's  got  to  stand  up  for  the  clerks  in 
his  store,  but  it  got  to  be  pretty  hard  work.  I'd 
try  to  cheer  him  up.  I'd  praise  some  of  his 
work,  or  I'd  give  him  a  half  day  extra  to  go  to 
a  ball  game.  No  matter  what  he  did  or  where 
he  went,  no  matter  how  good  a  time  he  had, 
he'd  come  back  with  that  same  funeral  face, 
until  I  finally  told  him  he'd  have  to  try  it  on 
someone  else,  that  I  was  getting  to  where  I 
looked  like  him  and  my  wife  wouldn't  stand 
for  it." 

"  Yes,  it  is  a  habit,  Charley.  It's  a  habit  of 
mind.  A  man  gets  to  thinking  of  his  troubles  if 
he  has  any  and  if  he  hasn't  any  he  will  worry 
about  what  he  might  have  and  pretty  soon  it 
shows  in  his  face  and  the  longer  he  lets  himself 
run  along  like  that  the  worse  he  gets  and  the 

155 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

harder  it's  going  to  be  for  him  to  shake  the 
habit. 

"  Once  while  I  was  in  the  store  things  were 
going  kind  o'  bad  for  me  and  I  saw  I  was  get- 
ting   terrible    solemn.     My    wife    mentioned    it 
first.    Then  I  watched  myself  and  I  saw  that  I 
never  seemed  to  be  really  cheerful,  so  I  thought 
it  over,  and  about  then  I  read  somewhere  that 
the  way  to  get  rid  of  any  kind  of  a  fault  isn't 
to  keep  thinking  '  don't  do  this/  but  to  think  of 
just  the  opposite  and  think  *  do  do  this.'    Well, 
I  could  see  that  meant  that  instead  of  thinking 
'don't  be   so  cussed  grouchy,'   I  ought  to  be 
thinking  'Cheer  up!'    And  in  that  same  piece 
I'd  read,  it  said  the  best  way  to  start  off  cheer- 
ful was  to  tell  a  funny  story  at  the  breakfast 
table  every  morning.     So  I  got  a  patent  medicine 
almanac,  I  came  in  and  you  hunted  up  an  old 
one  for  me  because  it  was  closed  season  on  'em 
then,  and  I  learned  one  of  those  stories  before 
breakfast  every  morning.    It  was  kind  o'  hard 
at  first  too,  because  for  three  mornings  there 
wasn't  a  soul  at  breakfast  to  tell  that  story  to. 
My  wife  didn't  get  up  in  time,  but  I'd  made  the 
resolution  and  you'ld  have  died  to  have  heard 
me  there  in  the  dining-room  telling  myself  out 
loud    one    of    those    patent    medicine    almanac 
chestnuts." 

156 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"Ha-ha-ha!"  laughed  Morrison.  "I  sup- 
posed you  were  a  natural  born  story  teller. 
You're  always  full  of  them.  I  never  would  have 
thought  that  was  the  way  you  got  your  story 
telling  habit." 

"  Yes,  sir,  that's  the  way  I  got  my  start  in  life, 
you  might  say.  It  did  the  business  too.  It 
started  me  out  for  business  feeling  perfectly 
foolish,  and  I  never  saw  a  man  who  could  nurse 
a  grouch  when  he  was  feeling  absolutely  foolish 
or  when  he'd  left  his  family  laughing  over  a 
funny  story  he'd  just  told. 

"Well,  when  I'd  start  for  the  store  feeling 
cheerful,  I'd  find  that  I'd  speak  cheerfully  to 
every  fellow  I  met,  and  they'd  speak  cheerfully 
to  me,  so  that  I'd  get  to  the  store  in  a  pretty 
good  mood  and  every  day  it  lasted  a  little  longer 
till,  the  first  thing  I  knew,  I'd  got  rid  of  that 
grouch  habit  and  I  never  let  it  come  back. 

"There's  something  about  being  cheerful  to 
other  folks  that  is  sure  to  make  you  cheerful 
yourself  in  the  end.  And  without  saying  any- 
thing about  what  a  lot  of  fun  you  get  out  of  life, 
there  isn't  any  question  but  that  cheerfulness 
pays  the  biggest  kind  of  dividends.  I'd  rather 
have  a  good,  cheerful  disposition  to  start  in 
business  with  than  a  capital  of  $10,000.  Yes,  I 
know    you    think    that's    a    joke,    but    it    isn't. 

157 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

Cheerfulness  has  a  big  money  value  in  busi- 
ness. 

''  Well,  I  guess  I'll  be  going  along.     Will  you 
let  me  buy  some  cigars  now  ? '' 

''No,  not  yet,"  said  Morrison.  "I  want  to 
show  you  something  in  the  advertising  line  that 
IVe  been  getting  up  for  my  store  and  I  want  to 
get  your  opinion  about  it." 
''All  right,  what  is  it?" 
Morrison  pulled  open  a  drawer  of  the  desk 
and  drew  out  a  sample  of  what  appeared  to  be 
printed  advertising  matter. 

"  Here,"  said  he,  handing  it  to  Tobias,  "  is  a 
copy  of  'Morrison's  Store  News.'  What  do 
you  think  of  that  for  advertising?" 

The  Old  Storekeeper  took  the  paper  and  ex- 
amined it  carefully.  It  was  a  four-page  paper 
with  pages  about  6x9  inches,  and  it  was  well 
printed  on  good  white  paper.  It  had  a  regular 
miniature  newspaper  makeup  with  the  heading 
and  volume  and  date,  etc.,  all  given,  and  there 
were  two  columns  to  the  page.  In  one  of  these 
columns  was  advertising  matter  of  the  store's 
goods,  and  in  the  other  various  items  of  local 
interest   interspersed   with   jokes. 

Tobias  read  part  of  the  contents  and  then 
said: 

"  Charley,  that's  a  mighty  good  advertisement. 

158 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

I'll  bet  it  isn't  one  of  these  cut  and  dried,  ma- 
chine-made store  papers  that  you  can  buy  all 
printed  with  a  place  left  for  putting  in  your 
name.  It's  a  regular  little  newspaper  about 
your  store  and  it's  got  enough  other  stuff  in  it  to 
make  people  interested  and  to  read  it  through. 

"  I  believe  that  for  most  businesses  some  kind 
of  a  little  regular  publication  of  that  sort,  sent 
out  to  a  mailing  list  once  a  month,  or  once  in 
two  months,  is  about  the  best  kind  of  advertis- 
ing next  to  the  newspapers  —  and  a  fellow  can 
use  a  store  paper  when  he  couldn't  use  the  news- 
papers. 

"  Why,  some  of  the  country  stores,  in  places 
where  they  don't  have  any  local  paper,  use  the 
store  paper  altogether  and  they  get  out  some 
pretty  big  ones  too.  You  keep  up  that  scheme, 
Charley,  and  you'll  find  it's  a  good  one.  There 
isn't  much  use  of  starting  in  unless  you  are  go- 
ing to  stick  to  it,  any  more  than  there's  any  use 
in  starting  in  with  any  kind  of  advertising  and 
then  stopping  just  as  you  get  nicely  under  way. 

"  You  just  begin  to  get  the  best  results  from  a 
store  paper  kind  of  an  advertisement  after  peo- 
ple get  to  where  they  expect  it  and  look  for  it 
and  maybe  come  in  and  kick  if  you  forgot  to 
send  them  one. 

"  I've  seen  little  bits  of  store  publications  that 

159 


I 


'  1 


km 


*  More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

would  fit  into  a  common  business  envelope  and 
they  were  good  ones  too.  It  isn't  size  that 
counts  in  that  kind  of  advertising.  It's  the  qual- 
ity. Leave  the  patent  insides  to  some  other  fel- 
low and  fill  your  paper  with  real  newsy  original 
matter  that  you  write  yourself,  or  get  someone 
to  write  about  your  store. 

"  Don't  forget  to  send  me  one  of  those  when- 
ever you  get  one  out.  I'm  going  to  take  this 
home  and  read  it  carefully  later.  No,  don't 
give  me  any  more  cigars.  I'm  going  to  buy  a 
quarter's  worth  in  spite  of  you.  Good  day! 
You  will  soon  make  a  first-class  editor  sure." 


i6o 


ELEVENTH  TALK 
A  customer's  point  of  view 

The  Flint  store  continued  to  prosper  in  spite 
of  the  personal  unpopularity  of  its  proprietor. 
The  store  was  new  and  it  had  new  goods  and  it 
certainly  used  live  methods  of  advertising  and 
selling  them.  These  facts  were  the  reasons  for 
its  business  development. 

It  drew  a  good  deal  of  business  from  Barlow 
and  in  addition  to  this,  as  is  always  the  case,  the 
new  competition  stimulated  Larry  Benjamin  and 
the  other  local  merchants  to  greater  endeavor 
and  the  result  was  that  Barlow  began  to  get  a 
little  scared. 

Confident  at  the  outset  that  the  new  man 
could  not  get  his  trade  away  from  him,  he  found 
that  he  was  mistaken.  The  new  man  could  get 
it.  Any  new  store  can  get  some  business.  Any 
store  opened  for  business  in  the  retail  section  of 
a  town  is  certain  to  do  some  business,  no  matter 
what  its  methods  or  its  stock. 

For  a  week  or  so  Barlow  hoped  that  Tobias 

i6i 


IM' 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

would  come  in  and  open  the  subject  so  that  he 
could  ask  him  what  to  do  without  first  having 
to  admit  that  he  had  not  taken  the  proper  steps 
to  meet  his  new  competition,  but  the  Old  Store- 
keeper adhered  to  his  resolution  not  to  interfere 
and  finally  his  successor  came  out  and  called 
him  in  one  day  as  he  was  going  past. 

"  Mr.  Jenkins !  "  he  called,  ''  I  want  to  talk  to 
you.     Come  in  and  have  a  chair  for  a  while." 

"  What's  the  matter  ?  Do  you  want  to  give 
me  some  good  advice  about  how  to  make  garden, 
or  are  you  going  to  show  me  a  sample  of  the 
biggest  radishes  in  town  ?  " 

"  No,  nothing  about  gardening.  I've  about 
given  that  up  lately.  Fve  had  so  much  else  on 
my  mind." 

They  walked  back  through  the  store  to  the 
office  and  when  Tobias  was  seated,  Barlow  asked, 

"  What  am  I  going  to  do  to  keep  this  man 
Flint  from  getting  my  trade  away  from  me? 
I  know  he  has  surprised  me.  I  said  he  couldn't 
do  it,  but  Tm  ready  to  admit  that  I  didn't  know 
what  I  was  talking  about,  so  you  needn't  rub 
that  in  any." 

"  He's  kind  o'  getting  under  your  belt,  is  he? 
Well,  I  don't  think  you  need  to  worry  about 
it  because  I  don't  believe  he's  going  to  close  up 
your  store  or  any  of  the  others,  but  I'd  get  busy 

162 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

if  I  were  you.  First,  I  want  to  ask  where  is 
Dolly  Dingle?  I  see  you've  got  a  young  fellow 
that  I  don't  know  taking  care  of  her  counter." 

*'  Well,  you  see,"  explained  Barlow  hesi- 
tatingly, "  since  we  are  going  to  be  married  I 
thought  she  didn't  need  to  work  in  the  store, 
so  I  got  someone  to  take  her  place  and  she's 
gone  on  a  visit  for  a  while." 

"  Hadn't  you  heard  that  it  isn't  a  first  class 
time  to  swap  horses  when  you're  crossing  a 
stream  ?  " 

''  Well,  I  didn't  suppose  it  would  make  any 
difference." 

"  Oh,  that  isn't  what's  getting  your  trade  away 
from  you,  not  that  entirely,  but  if  I  was  both- 
ered with  some  extra  hot  competition  for  a  while 
I  don't  believe  I'd  pick  out  that  time  to  let  old 
clerks  go  and  put  new  ones  that  folks  don't  know 
on  the  job.  Of  course  that's  only  one  of  the 
little  things  that  makes  a  difference,  but  in  this 
case  it  isn't  such  a  little  thing  either.  There's 
Billie  Henry  who  worked  in  your  grocery  de- 
partment and  Flint  has  hired  him  to  get  out 
and  take  orders  and  deliver  the  goods.  Those 
two  clerks  gone  out  of  your  force  and  replaced 
with  new  ones  don't  help  any  to  hold  your  trade. 

"  I've  been  watching  this  Flint  and  the  rest 
of  your  fellow  merchants  lately  and  wondering 

163 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


i! 


?  i' 


"He  has  popular  priced  novelties  in  every  line/' 


% 


164 


^ 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

what  would  happen  with  competition  hotter  and 
Tve  noticed  that  things  were  warming  up  con- 
siderable. I  asked  my  wife  yesterday  what  the 
women  thought  of  the  new  store  and  I  got  some 
ideas  from  her  about  how  the  customers  look 
at  the  proposition. 

"  She  says  that  one  reason  why  Flint's  store 
is  so  popular  is  that  he's  got  the  very  newest 
things.  Of  course  your  store  and  the  other 
stores  here  in  town  are  buying  new  goods  all 
the  while  and  you  get  some  of  the  latest  things 
in  the  market,  but  she  says  that  this  fellow  has 
a  big  line  of  novelty  goods  that  people  buy  be- 
cause they  never  had  them  before  and  they  don't 
cost  much  money.  His  store  is  more  like  a  city 
store  in  that  way.  Whenever  you  go  in  you 
always  see  something  that  you  want  and  that 
you  can  afford  to  buy. 

"  He  has  the  popular  priced  novelties  in  every 
line  he  carries  and  a  whole  lot  of  these  things 
are  goods  that  the  Hampton  folks  didn't  know 
were  made  at  all.  And  my  wife  says  that  the 
reason  he's  got  these  goods  is  because  he's  been 
in  the  city  and  gone  around  to  all  the  different 
wholesale  and  retail  stores  and  made  'em  show 
him  what  was  new.  I  asked  her  if  she  didn't 
think  that  the  other  stores  here  kept  up  to  date 
pretty  well  but  she  didn't  seem  to  think  so.     She 

165 


f. 


l-J 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

said  '  Oh  yes,  of  course  they  buy  new  goods 
once  in  a  while  from  the  agents,  but  the  new 
goods  aren't  so  very  different  from  the  old  ones. 
'  Why/  she  said,  *  Fll  bet  that  John  Barlow  or 
Larry  Benjamin  either  don't  go  to  the  city  oftener 
than  once  a  year  and  then  they  just  go  and  buy 
the  same  things  they'd  buy  if  they  stayed  home 
and  let  a  drummer  bring  samples  to  them.  They 
don't  go  around  any.' 

"  And  I  don't  know  but  she's  some  right  too. 
Just  going  down  to  the  city  and  going  in  and 
buying  a  line  of  stuff  from  the  same  old  house 
year  after  year  doesn't  help  a  fellow  to  get  wise 
on  novelties.  He's  got  to  find  'em  just  the  same 
as  a  woman  would  find  'em  by  shopping  around. 
Of  course  that's  hard  work  and  it  doesn't  leave 
a  man  in  good  shape  to  enjoy  the  theatre  at 
night  but  it  gets  him  a  darned  sight  more  sal- 
able goods.  If  a  customer  thinks  a  store  has 
some  new  goods  that  he  or  she  hasn't  seen  be- 
fore, that  means  a  visit  to  the  store  even  if  there 
isn't  anything  special  needed  at  that  time. 

"Why,  I  know  myself,  and  you  do  too,  that 
if  you  see  that  Charley  Morrison  has  got  in  a 
new  line  of  pipes  or  tobaccos,  you  want  to  go 
in  the  first  thing  and  look  them,  over.  Maybe 
you  don't  want  any  pipe  and  maybe  you've  got 
slathers  and  oodles  of  tobacco  but  you  want  to 

i66 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

see  what's  new  and  you'll  probably  buy  some 
before  you  get  out. 

"I  expect  a  woman  is  the  same  way  only 
more  so  about  the  things  she  is  interested  in  in  a 
store,  things  for  the  house,  things  to  eat,  or 
things  to  wear,  especially  those  last ! 

"  Then  another  thing  my  wife  called  my  atten- 
tion to  was  that  this  foxy  Flint  has  gone  and  got 
in  his  store  clerks  that  know  the  people  here 
and  that  the  people  know.  Some  of  those  clerks 
don't  know  but  precious  little  about  the  goods, 
but  they  know  the  folks  and  Flint  has  sense 
enough  to  tell  'em  that  just  as  soon  as  a  cus- 
tomer asks  about  something  they  don't  know 
about,  they're  to  call  him  or  someone  that  does 

know. 

"  That  fixes  it  so  that  the  customers  don't  care 
so  much  about  what  sort  of  a  chap  Flint  is  him- 
self as  long  as  they  get  waited  on  by  some  one 
they  know.  And  he  makes  every  one  of  those 
clerks  call  the  customers  by  name,  by  their  actual 
name,  mind  you.  They  musn't  just  say  '  Good 
morning  Madam,'  or  '  yes  sir '  or  '  yes  ma'am,' 
they  must  say  '  Good  morning,  Mrs.  Jones,'  and 
'  Yes,  Mrs.  Jones.'  And  they  have  to  say  it  too. 
If  they  don't  know  a  person's  name,  it's  up  to 
them  to  find  it  out  if  they  can  so  they'll  know  it 
next  time,  and  Flint  himself   is  Johnny  right 

167 


if 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

on  the  spot  all  the  while.  He  knows  who's  who 
in  his  store.  And  every  customer  that  comes  in 
is  written  down  in  a  mailing  list  and  gets  adver- 
tising fired  at  'em  right  away. 

''  You  think  this  isn't  telling  you  how  to  hold 
your  trade  or  how  to  get  it  back,  but  it  is  just 
the  same.     The  things  that  will  draw  trade  one 
way  will  draw  it  the  other.    You  made  the  mis- 
take of  your  life  in  letting  Miss  Dingle  go  vaca- 
tioning now,  marry  or  no  marry.     You  need  her 
in  your  business  and  my  advice  to  you  is  to  write 
to  her  and  ask  her  to  come  back  and  get  you 
out  of  the  hole,  because  if  you  don't  get  busy 
you  won't  have  business  enough  to  support  her 
after  you  get  her.     Of  course  you  ought  to  have 
kept  Billie  Henry.     You  ought  to  have  paid  him 
enough  so  he  wouldn't  have  gone  to  Flint's.     He 
needs  the  money  and  he  was  at  liberty  to  change 
and  while  I  wouldn't  advise  you  in  the  matter, 
I'm  not  saying  that  it  wouldn't  be  fair  for  you 
to  see  the  other  merchants  that  Flint  stole  clerks 
from  and  all  of  you  go  after  the  clerks  and  get 
them  back  in  a  bunch.     Mind  you,  I  don't  advise 
that.     I  just  mention  it.     And  if  you  get  them, 
^tt  them  on  a  written  contract  to  stay  a  definite 
length  of  time. 

"  Another  thing  my  wife  said  was  that  when 
you  go  into  Flint's  you  get  waited  on  right  away, 

i68 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

or  else  they  tell  you  how  long  it  will  be  before 
they  can  wait  on  you.  In  most  stores  you  go  in 
and  stand  around  with  nothing  but  a  nod  from  a 
busy  clerk  and  you  can  guess  at  the  number  of 
people  who  are  ahead  of  you  and  how  much 
they're  going  to  buy  and  you  don't  know  how 
long  you  may  have  to  wait.  Perhaps  you 
haven't  much  time  to  spare  and  you  might  pre- 
fer to  come  in  again  later  or  to  go  somewhere 
else  for  what  you  want.  Well,  she  says  that 
there  someone  is  always  ready  to  tell  you  that 
they'll  wait  on  you  in  five  minutes,  or  that  it 
will  be  ten  minutes  before  they  can  see  you,  as 
the  case  may  be.  They  ask  you  to  sit  down  and 
wait  and  if  you  don't  think  you  can  wait  that 
long,  nobody  gets  sore  about  it  or  tries  to  tie  you 
fast  to  a  post  so  you  can't  get  out  with  your 
money. 

"  It  seems  to  me  that  the  whole  thing  in  a  nut- 
shell is  simply  that  they  take  a  lot  of  pains  to 
be  polite  to  their  customers  and  to  make  them 
feel  comfortable.  In  some  stores  their  motto  is 
^  We  want  your  money '  and  it  sticks  out  all  over 
the  people  and  the  place  just  as  plain  as  if  they 
had  it  printed  on  framed  cards  hung  up  around. 
And  that's  all  they  do  want  too.  You  feel  that 
as  soon  as  they've  got  it  you  can't  '  beat  it '  too 
soon.     Of  course  they  want  you  to  come  back, 

169 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

when  you  get  more  money,  but  they  don't  take 
any  pains  to  make  you  want  to  come. 

"  When  I  go  into  a  store  where  they  evidently 
don't  want  anything  of  me  but  my  money,  I  don't 
go  away  hoping  to  see  them  again  soon.  Not 
much !  I  want  the  man  who  sells  me  goods  in  a 
store,  or  anywhere  else,  to  act  as  if  he  could  think 
in  some  terms  beside  just  dollars  and  cents.  It's 
all  right  for  a  clerk  to  be  looking  out  for  his  em- 
ployer's interest  all  the  time,  but  that  ought  to 
mean  that  he's  trying  to  make  a  satisfied  customer 
out  of  me.  Nobody  who  knows  anything  about 
business  tries  any  more  to  run  a  store  on  the  one 
time  customer  plan. 

"  Everybody  used  to  advertise  *  No  trouble  to 
show  goods.'  Once  in  a  while  you  see  that  now. 
But  the  stores  that  advertised  that  were  just  as 
likely  as  any  others  to  get  mad  if  a  customer  came 
in  and  after  looking  at  the  whole  line  went  away 
without  buying  anything. 

"  I'll  say  this  much  for  you,  John,  you  always 
did  insist  that  the  customer  who  didn't  buy  any- 
thing must  be  treated  just  as  well  as  the  one  who 
bought  a  lot  of  stuff.  Well,  that  counts  in  your 
favor.  You  bear  on  hard  on  that  now  because 
it's  a  strong  feature.  I  don't  know  of  anything 
I  like  about  a  store  better  than  just  that.  Ad- 
vertise that  and  feature  it  and  impress  it  upon  the 

170 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

minds  of  the  public.  Tell  them  that  you  want 
them  to  come  to  your  store  when  they're  out  look- 
ing and  that  you  don't  care  a  continental  whether 
they  buy  anything  or  not.  Of  course  you  do 
care  and  of  course  they  know  that  you  would 
rather  have  them  buy,  but  if  you  can  treat  them 
as  if  they  were  free  to  do  as  they  liked  about  it 
and  nobody  get  grouchy,  then  you'll  get  their 

patronage. 

"  Of  course  some  customers  don't  care  two 
straws.  They'd  as  soon  have  the  clerk  get  mad 
over  their  not  buying  as  to  have  him  smile  but 
those  people  are  about  as  scarce  as  hen's  teeth 
and  even  they  won't  mind  if  the  clerk  is  polite 
when  they  don't  spend  their  money. 

"  Men  are  particularly  backward  about  going 
in  and  looking  things  over.  A  man  just  natu- 
rally seems  to  hate  to  go  into  a  store  and  ask  to 
see  the  different  kinds  of  anything.  He  wants 
to  blow  in  with  an  air  of  assurance  and  say  '  Give 
me  two  dollars'  worth  of  this  or  that '  and  not 
have  to  appear  to  care  what  the  price  is  or  to 
seem  ignorant  in  any  way.  But  when  he  doesn't 
know,  which  is  a  good  deal  of  the  time,  he  has 
got  to  ask  questions,  and  then  he  wants  to  go  to 
a  store  where  they'll  treat  him  well  and  let  him 
down  easy  if  he  doesn't  buy.  When  he  finds  the 
store  that  does  business  in  that  way,  he  is  going 

171 


M-: 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

to  drop  in  there  for  everything  he  wants  in  their 
line. 

"  I  would  advise  you,  or  anybody  who  finds 
himself  up  against  a  new  line  of  hot  competition, 
to  increase  his  advertising  expense,  to  use  bigger 
space  and  to  get  up  better  window  displays  and 
to  put  on  a  few  special  sales.  This  new  store  is 
getting  business  with  bargains.  You  give  some 
bargains  too.  Spend  a  little  money  in  giving 
people  some  values  that  will  show  them  that  no 
new  store  can  give  better  values  than  the  old 
established  firm. 

"  Get  your  trade  journals  out  and  go  through 
the  advertising  pages  of  them  and  see  what  there 
is  that's  new  that  you  get  to  feature  and  see  too 
what's  new  in  fixtures  that  will  help  you  to  dis- 
play your  goods  better  than  the  other  fellow 
shows  his.     I  don't  believe  you  give  more  than 
half  enough  attention  to  your  trade  journals  any- 
way.     I  don't  know  how  many  you  get  but  you 
ought  to  have  one  for  every  line  of  goods  you 
carry.     I  know  a  druggist  who  made  a  success 
of  his  business  who  subscribed  for  three  drug 
trade  papers,  a  tobacco  trade  paper,  a  stationery 
journal  and  one  for  the  confectionery  line.     It 
didn't  cost  him  more  than  a  few  dollars  every 
year  and  he  got  no  end  of  good  ideas  out  of 
them,  and  their  advertising  pages  kept  him  sup- 

172 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

plied  with  new  goods  all  the  time.     He  was  an 
up  to  date  live  merchant. 

"  I  know  another  fellow  who  tried  to  run  a 
department  store.  He  had  a  shoe,  a  clothing,  a 
grocery,  a  dry  goods  and  one  or  two  other  de- 
partments and  he  didn't  take  a  single  trade  paper. 
He's  out  of  business  now.  The  sheriff  put  on  the 
only  good  sale  the  store  ever  had.  Don't  make 
any  mistake  about  this  trade  paper  business. 
You  may  think  you  can't  afford  to  take  'em  all, 
but  I  tell  you  you  can't  afford  not  to  take  all  you 
can  possibly  get  time  to  read.  And  if  you  can't 
read  them  yourself,  let  the  clerks  read  them  and 
it  will  do  you  almost  as  much  good.  I  had  a  talk 
with  Henry  Foss  the  other  day  right  along  this 
same  line.     I  want  to  impress  it  on  you  too. 

"  There  are  some  kinds  of  economy  that  aren't 
economy  at  all  and  this  going  without  trade 
journals  is  one  of  them.  It's  a  kind  of  '  save  at 
the  spigot  and  waste  at  the  bung  '  economy.  The 
dealer  out  here  in  the  smaller  towns  can't  find 
any  better  way  of  keeping  up  to  date  between 
trips  to  the  market  than  to  read  plenty  of  trade 
papers.  And  I'm  not  sure  but  that  he  can  keep 
up  to  date  about  as  well  from  the  trade  papers 
alone  as  from  the  trips  to  the  city.  Think  of  all 
the  money  and  brains  that  are  being  put  into 
these  journals  all  over  the  country  in  all  lines! 

173 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

The  fellows  behind  these  papers  know  what  they 
are  about.  They're  right  close  to  the  people  who 
do  the  big  advertising  and  make  the  big  sellers 
sell. 

"  And  a  good  trade  paper  will  tell  a  man  pretty 
nearly  anything  he  wants  to  know. 

"  I'm  not  going  to  ask  you  what  papers  you 
take  because  I  don't  believe  you  take  many  and 
I  don't  want  to  embarrass  you,  but  you  get  busy 
and  subscribe  for  some  more  of  them  and  if  you 
don't  get  some  ideas  out  of  them  that  will  help 
you  to  trim  that  Flint  chap,  I'll  pay  for  the  best 
suit  of  clothes  you  can  buy  in  town." 
^The  Old  Storekeeper  got  up  and  stretched 
himself  and  reached  for  his  hat. 

"  I'm  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  talk,"  said 
Barlow.  "  You  haven't  jumped  on  me  as  hard  as 
you  might  have  done  and  I  appreciate  vour  letting 
me  down  easy.  I  think  I'll  just  take  up  your 
advice.     Come  in  again." 

"  Oh,  I'll  do  that  all  right ;  don't  worry."  And 
Tobias  went  out  whistling  his  favorite  tune. 


174 


TWELFTH  TALK 

HOW   TO   HAVE  GOOD   CLERKS 

It  was  about  this  time  that  the  business  men  of 
Hampton  decided  to  form  an  organization  for 
the  general  good  of  the  business  of  the  town. 

They  called  this  "  The  Enterprise  Club  "  and 
they  planned  to  meet  regularly  once  a  month  in 
an  informal  way  and  have  a  sort  of  smoker  with 
a  talk  on  some  business  subject  by  some  live  busi- 
ness man. 

A  local  business  men's  association  of  some 
sort  is  a  necessity  in  every  town  if  it  expects  to 
hold  its  own  against  the  outside  influences  that 
are  all  the  while  being  brought  to  bear  to  get 
away  the  business  of  its  citizens. 

It  is  easier  nowadays  to  buy  away  from  home 
than  it  ever  was  before.  Buying  by  mail  has 
been  facilitated  in  every  way  and  the  automobile 
makes  it  easy  for  a  good  many  people  in  the 
smaller  place  to  get  to  the  larger  town  to  do  their 
important  buying. 

175 


15;'  ■  I 


1-   •  ! 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

f^.  ?!  ^"*f,^Pf's«^  Club  was  formed  with  the  hope 
that  It  would  bnng  the  merchants  together  so  that 
they  would  present  a  united  front  to  the  outside 
world.  It  was  expected  that  there  would  be  busi- 
ness carnivals  business  shows  and  bargain  weeks 
and  many  other  schemes  for  drawing  trade  to 
riampton. 

While  Tobias  Jenkins  was  not  a  merchant,  still 
he  was  actively  interested  in  the  town's  business 
matters  and  he  was  glad  to  become  a  member  of 
the  club  and  help  it  along  in  every  possible  way. 
Any  such  club  will  often  find  it  an  advantage  to 

Every  member  should  and  will  feel  the  impor- 
tance  o  oyalty  to  the  home  merchants  and  each 
one  will  feel  m  duty  bound  to  do  all  the  buying 
at  home  that  is  possible. 

The  first  meeting  at  which  there  was  to  be  a 
speech  or  talk  came  not  long  after  the  events  of 
our  last  chapter  and  Tobias  was  asked  to  ad- 

clerks  ''^"''   "^''''   ^^^   '"''^'^'^   ""^   ^^^^^^"& 

He  demurred  at  making  any  kind  of  a  speech 
as  he  was  no  public  speaker  but  he  finally  con- 
sented  to  talk  to  them  in  an  informal  kind  of 

with  them  while  he  talked.     To  this  they  con- 

176 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

sented  and  thus  he  became  in  his  own  way  the 
"  speaker  of  the  evening.'' 

"Your  president/'  said  he,  "asked  me  if  I 
wouldn't  say  something  about  clerks  and  I  very 
foolishly  said  I  would.  Now,  there's  a  good  deal 
that  can  be  said  about  them  and  about  some  of 
them,  the  less  said,  the  better.  I  never  had  much 
trouble  getting  along  with  the  boys  and  they 
never  had  much  trouble  getting  along  with  me  — 
if  they  had  any  idea  of  being  on  the  square. 

"At  first  when  I  wanted  a  clerk,  I  used  to 
keep  thinking,  '  I  wonder  if  I  can  get  the  sort 
of  a  man  I  want.'  Then  somehow  it  just  hap- 
pened to  pop  into  my  head  '  I  wonder  if  I  am  the 
sort  of  a  man  a  good  clerk  wants  to  work  for.' 
That  idea  set  me  thinking  a  good  deal  and  the 
result  was  that  I  made  up  my  mind  that  there's 
as  much  in  being  a  good  boss  as  there  is  in  being 
a  good  clerk. 

"  I  tried  to  think  of  cases  where  a  bad  boss 
had  good  clerks  and  I  couldn't  think  of  any,  un- 
less it  might  be  one  or  two  where  the  clerk  had 
quit  as  soon  as  he  found  out  he  wasn't  working 
for  the  right  kind  of  a  man.  And  if  you  your- 
selves will  take  notice  you  will  find  that  the  only 
kind  of  clerk  that  will  stay  with  a  poor  merchant 
is  a  poor  clerk. 

"  The  good  clerk  is  looking  for  a  chance  to  bet- 

177 


I 


;  I 


I 


H 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

ter  himself.  He  has  ambitions.  He  wants  to 
get  to  be  something  more  than  a  mere  clerk.  He 
wants  some  day  to  be  his  own  boss  and  have  a 
store  of  his  own,  and  if  he  is  working  for  a  man 
who  doesn't  know  how  to  run  a  store,  he'll  have 
sense  enough  to  realize  that  he  can't  learn  there. 

"  Some  employers  think  they  don't  want  a 
clerk  who  is  planning  to  go  into  business  for 
himself.  They're  afraid  he'll  get  to  be  a  com- 
petitor and  steal  all  of  their  methods  and  take 
their  customers  with  him.  Well,  if  a  man  isn't 
willing  to  take  any  chances  at  all  in  business,  he'd 
better  stay  out  of  it.  If  he'd  rather  have  poor 
clerks  just  so  they  won't  get  to  be  his  com- 
petitors, let  him  have  them.  But  it's  a  mistake 
to  look  at  it  in  that  way.  Get  the  ambitious 
young  men  who  want  to  accomplish  something 
and  take  pains  to  teach  them  as  much  as  they  can 
learn  about  the  business.  The  more  ambition 
they  have  to  get  into  business,  the  better  help 
they  will  be.  You  can't  keep  a  man  from  start- 
ing out  for  himself  just  by  refusing  to  help  him 
learn  the  business.  He's  sure  to  do  you  more 
harm  ignorant  behind  your  own  counter  than 
he'd  do  behind  his  own  later. 

"  You've  got  to  take  an  interest  in  your  clerks 
if  you  expect  them  to  take  much  interest  in  you. 
You  can't  expect  him  to  work  his  head  off  to 

178 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

make  your  business  a  success  if  you  won't  turn 
over  your  hand  to  help  him  to  succeed. 

"  And  a  clerk  needs  appreciation  too.  It's  all 
very  well  to  say  that  a  clerk's  pay  is  what  he 
should  get  for  his  work  and  that  flattery  won't 
get  you  anything  from  him.  Nevertheless  he 
likes  to  be  told  he  is  doing  well.  You  like  it 
yourselves.  Why,  the  money  a  man  gets  for  his 
work  isn't  really  the  important  thing.  He  wants 
people  to  know  that  he's  done  well,  that  he's 
amounted  to  something.  You  tell  your  clerks 
so  when  you  notice  they  are  making  good  and 
they'll  work  twice  as  hard  to  keep  on  improving. 
Flattery  may  not  be  wages,  but  it  sure  makes  the 
wages  look  bigger. 

"  A  merchant  has  a  moral  responsibility  too  in 
connection  with  his  clerks.  It's  up  to  him  to 
know  something  about  what  kind  of  a  fellow  that 
clerk  is  outside  of  store  hours  and  it's  up  to  him 
to  set  him  an  example  that  it  won't  hurt  him  to 
follow.  If  the  clerk  has  any  ideas  at  all,  one  of 
them  is  pretty  apt  to  be  that  his  boss  is  a  pretty 
good  example  for  him  to  follow  if  he  wants  to 
get  to  be  his  own  merchant  some  day. 

"You  know  where  the  boy  would  land  that 
followed  the  example  of  some  employers.  Em- 
ployers who  have  themselves  made  money  and 
who  apparently  are  successful  business  men,  are 

179 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeepei* 


>  ( 


'^Setting  their  clerks  an  example  of  fast  living/' 


180 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

setting  their  clerks  an  example  of  fast  living  that 
will  ruin  the  youngsters  in  a  short  time,  no  mat- 
ter what  it  may  do  to  the  employers  who  perhaps 
kept  sober  till  they  got  their  business  built. 

"  I  believe  in  a  man  knowing  what  his  clerks 
are  doing  outside  of  business  hours  and  calling 
them  for  it  if  they  get  sporty.  The  clerk  who 
won't  appreciate  such  an  interest  on  the  part  of 
his  employer,  who  says  that  it  isn't  any  of  the 
boss's  business  what  he  does  outside  of  the  store, 
is  wrong  and  going  wrong.  If  he's  right,  and 
if  he  behaves  himself  out  of  the  store,  he  won't 
care  if  his  boss  does  know  what  he  does. 

"There's  more  than  the  reason  of  moral  re- 
sponsibility   for   this.     There   is   good   business 
sense  in  it.    Who  wants  to  trust  his  money  in 
the  hands  of  a  man  who  spends  his  nights  gam- 
bling?    Who  wants  part  of  his  customers  kept 
away  from  his  store  because  he  has  a  clerk  whom 
women  don't  want  to  do  business  with?    I  tell 
you,  it  is  a  man's  business  what  his  clerks  do 
wherever  they  are.    It  isn't  necessary  for  him  to 
be  offensive  in  interesting  himself  in  their  af- 
fairs.    He  needn't  and  he  shouldn't  be  snooping 
around  and  spying  on  them.    He  ought  to  be 
perfectly  frank  about  it  and  talk  over  that  sort 
of  thing  with  a  clerk  just  as  he'd  talk  over  the 
quality  of  a  new  arrival  of  goods. 

i8i 


.^I. 


'll 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  And  here's  another  thing;  don't  jump  on  the 
clerks  for  mistakes.  A  man  who  never  makes 
mistakes  doesn't  count  for  very  much  and  you 
and  I  make  them  in  business  pretty  nearly  every 
day.  We  can't  help  it.  But  it  doesn't  make  us 
feel  any  better  to  be  cussed  for  it.  When  a  mis- 
take has  been  made,  it's  been  made.  The  thing 
to  do  is  to  prevent  its  being  made  again  and  get 
out  of  it  this  time  as  well  as  possible. 

"  If  a  man  can't  keep  his  temper  with  his  help 
when  they  do  things  wrong,  they'll  be  all  the 
more  apt  to  do  them  wrong.  It  makes  a  man 
nervous  and  more  likely  to  do  a  thing  wrong  if 
he  knows  that  somebody  is  watching  him  all  the 
time  with  a  temper  already  to  fly  to  pieces  the 
minute  everything  isn't  just  exactly  right. 

"I  don't  hold  any  brief  for  the  *  easy  boss' 
who  lets  mistakes  slip  by  without  a  word  and 
takes  everything  as  it  comes.  He  won't  help  his 
clerks  to  get  any  better,  but  I  want  to  condemn 
the  Simon  Legree  sort  of  a  chap  who  can't  stand 
it  to  have  a  little  authority  without  abusing  it. 

''  There  are  some  kinds  of  clerks  a  man  never 
ought  to  hire  at  all.  It  will  save  him  trouble  and 
time  and  money  to  let  them  work  for  somebody 
else.  One  of  these  is  the  man  who  drinks.  I 
don't  care  how  much  or  how  little  he  uses  booze, 
you  never  know  what  he  is  going  to  do.     Marry- 

182 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

ing  a  man  to  reform  him  and  hiring  him  in  the 
hope  of  reforming  him  are  a  good  deal  alike. 
If  you  want  to  reform  partial  or  total  drunkards, 
that's  a  good  idea  and  I  approve  of  it,  but  I 
don't  think  the  way,  or  even  one  of  the  ways  of 
doing  it  is  to  hire  them  to  work  in  your  store. 

"  Booze  and  business  won't  any  more  mix  than 
oil  and  water  and  any  young  fellow  who  doesn't 
believe  that  has  just  that  much  more  to  learn  and 
if  he  will  learn  it  from  somebody  else's  experi- 
ence instead  of  from  his  own,  he'll  be  money  and 
a  lot  more  things  ahead  in  the  end. 

"Then  there's  the  quick  tempered  chap,  the 
fellow  who  just  can't  help  going  right  up  in  the 
air  if  a  customer  insinuates  that  he  isn't  telling 
the  exact  truth  or  if  the  boss  drops  him  a  friendly 
hint  on  some  of  his  shortcomings.  You  may 
possibly  get  along  with  such  a  chap  by  handling 
him  with  gloves,  but  unless  you're  pretty  even 
tempered  yourself  and  can  keep  your  mouth  shut 
when  he  treats  you  with  scant  politeness,  better 
let  him  pass  on  to  someone  else. 

"  The  clerk  with  poor  health  you  can  do  as 
you  like  about.  If  you  are  of  a  charitable  na- 
ture and  his  illness  isn't  contagious,  take  him  on 
and  let  him  work  when  he  can  and  make  up  your 
mind  to  get  along  without  him  when  he  can't. 
The  average  human  being  is  sick  enough  of  the 

183 


n 


^n 


!  I 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

time,  and  calls  for  enough  days  off  for  the  ordi- 
nary run  of  life's  ailments  without  your  picking 
out  a  fellow  who  is  below  the  physical  average. 

"  The  cigarette  fiend  is  another  bad  bargain. 
I  don't  care  if  you  run  a  tobacco  store  and  want 
a  man  to  go  behind  the  cigarette  counter;  you 
don't  want  a  fellow  who  looks  dirty  and  ciga- 
retty.  He  won't  be  any  better  advertisement  for 
the  cigarette  business  than  a  drunkard  is  for  a 
saloon. 

"  Use  care  in  picking  out  clerks  and  you  won't 
have  to  use  as  much  care  in  watching  them  after- 
ward or  as  much  tact  in  getting  rid  of  them.  An 
ounce  of  prevention  in  such  a  deal  is  worth  many 
pounds  of  cure. 

''  The  way  a  man  treats  his  clerks  makes  all 
the  difference  in  the  world  with  the  kind  of  serv- 
ice he  will  get  out  of  them.  The  fellow  who 
makes  it  plain  right  at  the  outset  that  they  are 
his  employes  and  that  all  they  need  expect  from 
him  is  their  wages,  will  get  their  time  and  they 
will  do  what  they  are  told  to  do,  but  they  will  be 
working  for  their  own  interests  and  doing  as  lit- 
tle as  they  can  instead  of  feeling  that  the  store 
is  theirs  and  that  its  success  is  their  success. 

''  I  believe  in  giving  help  a  financial  interest  in 
the  growth  and  development  of  the  business. 
It's  a  good  plan  if  it's  a  stock  company  to  give 

184 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

them  a  piece  of  the  stock  for  Christmas  or  at 
the  end  of  each  year  of  their  time  with  the  store. 
A  man  who  has  stock  in  a  store,  if  he  is  any  good 
at  all,  will  not  be  losing  many  chances  to  boost 
that  store's  trade.  He  will  be  for  his  employer 
first,  last  and  all  the  time. 

**  Another  good  plan  is  to  give  a  clerk  the  first 
of  January  a  certain  percentage  of  the  net  gain 
in  business  for  the  year.  Clerks  who  are  going 
to  get  a  part  of  the  business  gain  are  going  to 
do  all  they  can  to  make  that  gain  something 
worth  while. 

"  Such  plans  identify  the  clerk  with  the  store 
and  make  him  a  part  of  it.  He  acts  as  if  he  was 
interested.  He  doesn't  stand  with  his  mouth  shut 
while  customers  walk  out  because  they  needed  a 
little  help  in  getting  the  right  goods. 

"  When  you  get  a  clerk  who  makes  the  store 
his  store,  who  comes  to  you  regularly  with  sug- 
gestions for  improvements  in  store  or  stock,  who 
is  always  on  his  job  on  time  and  always  polite 
and  interested,  hang  onto  that  clerk.  Don't  let 
anybody  hire  him  away  from  you  by  offering  him 
more  money  because  he  is  worth  more  money  to 
you  than  to  almost  anybody  else.  If  he  is  worth 
a  raise,  raise  him  and  don't  wait  for  him  to  in- 
sist upon  it  either.  One  good  clerk  helps  to  draw 
others.     He  helps  to  draw  a  good  class  of  trade. 

185 


n 


H 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

He  helps  in  every  way  that  the  business  needs 
help. 

"  It's  better  to  hire  a  good  man  and  pay  him 
more  than  you  can  afford  to  pay  than  to  hire  a 
poor  man  and  pay  him  anything. 

"  One  of  the  most  important  things  to  teach  ti 
clerk  is  salesmanship.  Everyone  of  you  mer- 
chants is  a  more  or  less  good  salesman.  You 
have  all  had  a  good  deal  of  experience.  You 
know  some  things  about  selling  goods  that 
your  clerks  don't  know.  Do  you  take  pains  to 
teach  them  what  you  know  ?  You  ought  to  talk 
over  with  them  the  matter  of  salesmanship  and 
find  out  how  much  they  know  about  the  theory 
of  it  as  well  as  about  the  practice. 

"  There  are  lots  of  good  little  books  on  sales- 
manship that  it  will  pay  you  to  put  into  the  hand 
of  the  clerks.  I  believe  in  giving  employes  of 
all  sorts  plenty  of  good  business  literature  and 
letting  them  get  the  theory  as  well  as  the  practice 
of  selling  goods. 

"Any  man  who  has  two  or  three  or  more 
clerks  will  make  money  by  getting  them  inter- 
ested in  scientific  salesmanship.  The  average 
clerk  thinks  little  or  nothing  about  such  things. 
He  goes  into  a  store  and  there  he  sells  goods 
and  learns  what  he  happens  to  learn  by  experi- 
ence.    He  notices  that  some  kinds  of  talk  get 

i86 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

more  buyers  than  other  kinds  and  he  takes  up 
those  lines  of  argument.  But  he  doesn't  know 
that  by  studying  into  the  thing  further  he  could 
find  out  why  each  customer  who  buys  does  so 
and  why  each  one  who  does  not  buy  does  that 

way. 

"  Reasons  for  things  of  that  kind  are  impor- 
tant.    When  a  man  dressing  a  window  puts  in 
a  bright  red  display  he  notices  that  he  sells  a  lot 
of   goods   of   the   kind   he   had   exhibited.     He 
figures  that  he  had  a  good  bargain  there  or  that 
the  arrangement  was  catchy,  or  something  else. 
He  knows  that  the  window  was  a  red  one  and 
he  knows  that  it  sold  goods  but  he  may  not  know 
that  it  sold  the  goods  because  it  was  a  red  win- 
dow.    If  he  had  gone  into  the  theory  of  the 
thing  and  found  that  red  will  attract  the  atten- 
tion of  the  eye  quicker  than  any  other  color,  he 
might  have  had  the  key  to  other  successful  win- 
dows.    I  tell  you  gentlemen,  it  pays  to  get  onto 
the  theory  of  things.     Everybody  looks  for  scien- 
tific reasons  nowadays. 

"  Little  things  in  salesmanship  are  mighty  im- 
portant. A  fastidious  customer  may  be  sent 
away  to  make  an  important  purchase  somewhere 
else  just  because  the  clerk's  finger  nails  were 
dirty  in  your  store.  You  think  that's  getting  it 
down  pretty  fine,  but  it's  true.     A  clerk  with  a 

187 


~< 


*  I 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 
bad  breath  can't  talk  across  the  counter  to  me 

Hke  cheap  hli?  T'  .'°"^'  ""^"  ^^^^^ 'ooks 
hi!  Tt^      P  ^"^  ^  ^^^^P  sto'-e  too.    Anythine 

away  irom  its  cash  receintQ      p^^*.i        -h 

te'oTtr",  "'"^  *'^^  P^^^-  -^  they  don't 
thW         ,  ^  '"'"  *°  'P^"^  ^'  ^^here  there  is  any 

ti,  '^'^''/^"^'"ded  the  talk  and  after  everyone  had 
thanked  Tobias  for  his  good,  plain  advke  'he 
"eetmg  broke  up.  As  the  members  went  out 
Barlow  walked  along  with  Tobias  and  said 

to  talkTomtr  '"  *''  '*"''  *°-"^^'-°--    I  -ant 

to  le  tm^ff  *    "^'  ""''*.  ^^^'^  y°"-    I  -an't  seem 

o    et  my  affairs  gomg  right.     In  fact  everything 

IS  all  gomg  wrong."  jiiimg 

"  What's  the  matter  ? " 

tolvht  Tnt^r  "^  *°  ''"  '"°"  ^">^*h^"^  a*'^"*  it 

on  the  nght  road  or  I  don't  know  what  I'll  do  " 
Tobias  agreed  to  be  on  hand  early  in  the  morn 
mg  and  bade  him  good  night. 


i88 


THIRTEENTH  TALK 

GETTING  THE   BUSINESS   BACK 

Promptly  at  eight  o'clock  the  morning  after 
the  meeting  of  the  business  organization,  Tobias 
walked  briskly  into  Barlow's  store  and  going 
back  to  where  the  proprietor  sat  at  his  desk,  he 
drew  a  chair  up  and  asked, 

"  Well,  son,  what's  the  trouble  ?  How  can  I 
help  you  ?  " 

"  It's  just  this,"  said  Barlow,  going  into  the 
matter  without  delay.  "That  Flint  store,  or 
somebody,  is  getting  my  business  away  too  fast. 
I'm  running  behind.  I  can't  keep  my  help  busy 
and  my  funds  are  a  little  short  too.  I  don't  want 
to  discharge  anybody  if  I  can  help  it  because  that 
will  give  the  situation  away  to  the  public." 

"  Has  Dolly  Dingle  come  back  ?  "  asked  To- 
bias. 

*'  No,  and  she  won't,  I'm  afraid  that's  all  off, 
Mr.  Jenkins.  I  wrote  and  told  her  the  trouble 
and  said  I  wished  she  would  come  back  and  help 
me  out  and  we'd  keep  our  engagement  quiet  for 

189 


t 


H 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

XTl  t''^  ^  ^°*  ^  ^"""'"  "'S*^t  ^^^y  saying 
that  she  had  supposed  I  was  competent  to  man- 

age  my  aflFairs  and  keep  my  store  running  and 
that  ,f  I  was  ashamed  to  have  my  engagement 
known  ,t  better  be  ended  before  it  was  too  late, 
so  she  broke  it  right  off." 

T  K^°  yo"  know  what's  the  trouble?"  asked 
lobias.       You  put  it  wrong  end  to  in  the  letter 
You  ye  got  to  remember  that  you  can't  put  things 
in  a  letter  just  as  you'd  say  'em.     You've  got  to 
be  mighty  careful  and  see  that  they  read  so  that 
they  give  just  the  meaning  you  want  'em  to  give 
That  s  particularly  important  in  business  letters.' 
All  of  these  times  when  a  merchant  gets  hot  at 
the  wholesaler  or  when  the  manufacturer  gets 
mad  at  the  merchant  are  just  because  of  some 
tool  mistake  of  a  careless  letter  writer. 

"  If  you'd  seen  Dolly  and  talked  this  over  with 
her  there  wouldn't  have  been  any  misunder- 
standing. But  that's  neither  here  nor  there  as 
far  as  I'm  concerned.  I'm  not  going  to  offer 
advice  m  anybody's  love  affairs.  I'll  tell  vou 
what  you're  going  to  do.  You're  all  going  to 
pieces  and  you're  going  to  take  a  vacation." 

But  how  can  I  take  a  vacation  now  of  all 
times  when  my  business  is  going  down  hill  and 
everything  is  at  loose  ends  ?  " 
"  I'll  tell  you.     You  aren't  in  any  shape  to  get 

190 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

a  business  back  on  its  feet.  You're  just  like  an 
automobile  stuck  in  a  mud-hole;  the  harder  it 
tries  to  get  out,  the  deeper  it  digs  itself  in.  Now 
you  show  me  how  things  stand,  explain  your 
books  to  me,  then  pack  your  grip  and  dig  out.  I 
don't  care  where  you  go,  but  go  somewhere  and 
stay  a  couple  of  months.  I'm  going  to  take  over 
this  business  myself  for  that  long  and  have  some 
fun.  I've  just  been  wishing  I  could  get  a  chance 
to  get  into  a  store  for  a  while  again  and  see  what 

I  could  do." 

"You're  mighty  kind,  Mr.  Jenkins,  but  I 
couldn't  do  that.  It's  asking  too  much  of  you 
and  then  I  wouldn't  be  easy  a  day  while  I  was 

away." 

"  I  don't  care  whether  you're  easy  while  you're 
away  or  not.  I'll  guarantee  that  you'll  be  easy 
when  you  come  back.  That  ought  to  be  worth 
something.  Now  come  on  and  show  me  about 
things.     Everything  that  I  don't  need  to  know, 

leave  out." 

After  some  more  argument  Barlow  finally  con- 
sented to  do  as  Tobias  asked  him  to  do  and  they 
spent  the  day  in  getting  the  Old  Storekeeper 
acquainted  with  the  details  of  the  business  situa- 
tion. 

The  next  morning  Barlow  left  town  and  it 
was  announced  that  the  work  of  managing  his  in- 

191 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

creasing  business  had  made  it  necessary  for  him 
to  take  a  rest  for  a  couple  of  months.  Tobias 
took  matters  in  hand. 

The  first  thing,  he  did  was  to  consider  well 
what  might  be  done  right  away  to  stop  the  trade 
that  was  gradually  drifting  away  and  draw  back 
that  which  had  gone. 

His  first  consideration  was  given  to  that  great- 
est of  all  business  bringers,  the  premium  scheme. 
The  diflFerent  variations  of  this  plan,  like  any 
other,  have  some  objections.  But  the  fact  that  a 
plan  is  not  perfectly  adapted  to  all  cases  is  no 
reason  for  condemning  it  wholesale.  There  are 
exceptions  to  all  rules. 



The  two  months  elapsed  and  aside  from  an 
occasional  postal  card,  Tobias  had  heard  noth- 
ing from  Barlow.  He  in  turn  had  sent  no  in- 
formation regarding  the  store  and  the  business 
except  an  occasional  statement  to  the  effect  that 
everything  was  all  right  and  that  he  was  to  stay 
his  two  months  out. 

The  Old  Storekeeper  sat  at  the  desk  one  even- 
ing making  out  a  set  of  figures  showing  the  busi- 
ness of  the  two  months  past.  It  was  after  clos- 
ing time  and  the  clerks  had  gone  home.  The 
whistle  of  the  evening  train  from  the  south  blew 
just  as  Tobias  tilted  back  in  his  chair  and  gave 

192 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

a  sigh  of  satisfaction,  lit  a  fresh  cigar  and  pro- 
ceeded to  wait  for  Barlow's  coming  for  he  had 
received  a  telegram  saying  that  he  would  be  in  on 
that  train.  He  had  not  overstayed  his  leave  of 
absence  by  so  much  as  a  single  day. 

In  a  short  time  the  door  opened  and  the  young 
proprietor  rushed  in  looking  brown  and  rugged 
and  full  of  energy.  He  shouted  a  greeting  to 
Tobias  and  grasped  his  hands  and  pumped  them 
up  and  down  until  the  older  man  had  to  call  for 
mercy. 

"  Say,  boy,  you're  strong  and  ambitious. 
What  the  dickens  have  you  been  doing  —  taking 
somebody's  elixir  of  life  ?  Come  into  your  office 
and  sit  down !  " 

"  By  George !  It  seems  good  to  get  back 
again,  Mr.  Jenkins.  How's  everything?  Break 
it  to  me  gently  if  the  rest  of  my  business  has 
been  stolen  away.  Say,  I've  got  more  ideas  in 
my  head  about  ways  for  making  a  store  do  busi- 
ness than  I  could  tell  you  in  a  week.  I've  been 
putting  in  time  finding  out  things  since  I  left  you. 
I  haven't  been  loafing  around  all  these  weeks,  not 
by  a  long  shot.  But  first,  go  ahead  and  let  me 
know  what  you've  been  doing  here.  You  look 
as  if  you'd  enjoyed  it  at  that." 

"  I  have  enjoyed  it,  John.  I've  had  the  time 
of  my  life  and  I'm  proud  to  say  I've  made  good. 

193 


V 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

Now,  if  you've  got  time  to  listen,  I'll  tell  you 
how  I  did  it.  First,  here  are  the  figures  of  the 
receipts  for  the  two  months  as  compared  with 
the  corresponding  time  last  year.  You  see,  there 
was  a  big  deficiency  at  first  and  it  was  a  month 
before  I  got  up  even  and  now  we're  runnin? 
way  ahead. 

"  What  I  did  was  to  go  into  the  premium  busi- 
ness. I  don't  know  whether  you  approve  of  it 
or  not  and  that's  one  reason  why  I  wanted  you 
out  of  the  way.  I  could  see  that  the  case  called 
for  desperate  medicine  at  once. 

"Flint  had  begun  giving  rebate  checks  that 
were  good  for  a  cash  discount  on  every  ten  dol- 
lars' worth.  Larry  Benjamin  was  giving  a  cash 
discount  on  every  purchase  of  ten  dollars'  worth. 
We,  or  rather,  you,  hadn't  been  doing  anything 
to  meet  this. 

"  You'd  never  used  the  check  printing  part  of 
your  cash  register  to  any  advantage."  (Barlow 
had  chosen  a  cash  register  system  for  his  store 
and  installed  it  during  the  winter.)  "The 
checks  had  no  value  and  naturally  nobody  took 
'em.  They  were  wasted.  I  sent  to  the  manu- 
facturer and  got  a  new  electro  reading,  'This 
check  is  good  for  a  premium.  Ask  the'  man ! ' 
Then  I  sat  down  and  ordered  from  a  bi<^  mail 
order  jobber,  a  lot  of  cut  glass ;  brassware  like 

194 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

jardinieres,  fern  dishes,  candlesticks,  etc.;  Rog- 
ers plated  silverware  such  as  teaspoons,  knives 
and  forks,  in  standard  pattern. 

"  In  the  newspapers  and  by  circulars  and  with 
posters  in  the  store,  see,  there's  one  of  them! 
I  advertised  that  cash  register  checks  would  be 
given  with  all  cash  purchases  of  all  kinds  and 
that  these  checks  would  be  redeemed  in  certain 
premiums. 

"By  that  time  the  premiums  were  here  and 
displayed  in  that  big  showcase  over  there.  A 
sample  of  each  kind  was  put  in  the  case  and  out 
in  the  back  room  duplicates  were  arranged  in 
labelled  spaces  and  all  wrapped  ready  to  deliver. 
I  made  people  come  for  their  premiums  of 
course.  It  was  one  of  the  rules,  or  rather  it  is 
one,  for  the  plan  is  still  at  work,  that  nobody 
could  send  for  the  premium  or  have  it  sent  to 
them.  The  person  wanting  it  had  to  come  for 
it,  at  least  the  person  who  came  for  it  had  to 
have  the  checks  and  make  the  deal.  That  gave 
us  a  chance  to  get  them  interested  in  continuing 
to  save  the  checks  and  it  made  it  probable  that 
they  would  make  a  purchase  while  in  the  store 
after  the  premium.  On  each  premium  we  put 
a  good,  plain  card  telling  how  many  dollars'  worth 
of  checks  it  took  to  get  it. 

"  For  instance,  we  figured  that  the  premiums 

195 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


'7  advertised   that  cash  register  checks  would  be  re- 
deemed in  premiums," 


196 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

were  worth  to  the  customer  eight  or  ten  per  cent 
of  the  checks  it  took  to  get  them.  These  pre- 
miums cost  me  something  less  than  five  per  cent, 
some  of  them  not  more  than  three.  One  of  the 
premiums  that  we  give  for  five  dollars  in  checks 
(and  that  is  the  lowest  figure  that  gets  anything) 
is  a  Rogers  teaspoon  in  that  vintage  pattern  that 
they  advertise  in  the  magazines.  It  costs  $2.41 
per  dozen.  There  is  a  line  of  Japanese  china- 
ware  too  that  is  inexpensive  and  it  gets  the 
women  to  looking  every  time. 

"  Why,  there  isn't  a  case  of  goods  in  the  store 
that  attracts  the  attention  that  premium  case 
attracts.  I  keep  a  girl  behind  it  all  the  time, 
showing  up  the  premiums  and  explaining  the 
plan.  And  we  take  just  as  much  pains  in  help- 
ing a  customer  choose  a  premium  as  if  she  were 
buying  something. 

"Of  course  there  haven't  been  a  lot  of  pre- 
mium goods  taken  out  yet  because  people  are 
just  beginning  to  get  enough  checks  to  be  en- 
titled to  them.  Quite  a  lot  of  the  cheaper  ones 
have  gone  and  they  have  helped  to  advertise  the 
plan.  It  always  seems  at  first  to  a  customer  as 
if  she  would  never  get  checks  enough  to  win  a 
premium,  but  once  get  them  started  and  they 
find  that  it  counts  up  pretty  fast. 

"  You   might  think   that  this   premium  thing 

197 


i 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


*'U/ 


IVe    take    pains    in    helping    a    customer    choose 

premium/' 


198 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

wouldn't  be  as  good  by  quite  a  lot  as  the  cash 
discount  or  the  rebate  plan  of  those  other  fel- 
lows. Well,  it  isn't  as  good  if  the  customer  only 
knew  it,  but  there  never  was  a  time  when  people 
wouldn't  save  checks  to  get  a  premium  a  good 
deal  sooner  than  they  would  bother  to  take  a  cash 
discount.  A  cash  rebate  doesn't  look  particu- 
larly good  to  anyone  unless  they  get  it  right 
along  with  the  goods.  They  can't  see  it.  They 
want  to  save  to  get  something  that  they  can  see. 
And  after  I'd  had  both  those  biggest  win- 
dows filled  with  premiums  for  a  few  days,  you'd 
have  laughed  in  your  sleeve  to  see  the  people 
coming  back  here  that  had  been  trying  trading 
at  Flint's.  Why,  if  Flint's  got  any  business  left 
I  don't  know  where  he's  getting  it. 

"Of  course  this  premium  trade  is  all  cash 
trade  and  the  plan  is  going  to  cut  out  pretty  near 
all  of  your  credit  business  in  a  little  while. 
That's  where  your  cash  register  is  getting  in  its 
fine  work  with  the  checks.  There  aren't  very 
many  people  looking  for  credit  now.  When  a 
woman  can  see  a  good  piece  of  cut  glass  or  some 
other  nice  thing  that  she  can  get  free  by  paying 
spot  cash  for  her  goods,  she  isn't  going  to  run  a 
charge  account  and  lose  that  premium,  not  if 
she's  a  careful  and  economical  housekeeper  any- 


way. 


199 


Il 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  This  kind  of  a  premium  plan  is  a  good  ways 
ahead  of  trading  stamps  or  any  other  scheme 
where  you  have  to  pay  some  outside  parties  a 
profit  on  the  game.     A  man  can  just  as  well  get 
up  his  own  plan  and  save  that  much  money  and 
then  people  have  to  come  to  his  store  for  their 
premiums  and  they  h^ve  to  do  all  their  trading 
there  to  get  them.     They  can't  get  them  by  buy- 
ing  anywhere  else  the  same  kind  of  goods  in  a 
<litferent  kind  of  a  store. 

""  Of  course  you  may  not  want  to  run  this 
scheme  forever  and  IVe  got  to  admit  that  it's  not 
an  easy  matter  to  close  up  the  plan.     People  will 
bother  you  with  wanting  premiums  after  youVe 
stopped  giving  them  and  when  you  stop  there 
will  be  a  lot  of  checks  to  be  redeemed  on  some 
kmd  of  a  basis,  but  I  took  all  this  into  considera- 
tion when  I  started  the  plan.     Your  store  has 
to  have  something  to  get  the  trade  back  and  I 
knew  this  would  do  it.     IVe  advertised  these 
premiums  just  as  Fd  advertise  any  line  of  goods 
that  you  might  want  to  sell.     I  had  to  get  quick 
results  so  I  bore  on  hard  and  the  results,  I  guess, 
justify  me  in  doing  it." 

<^  wu  ^?.  ''^'^^''''^     "^^'^     ^'^^^     ^^     Barlow. 
Why  I  had  no  idea  that  any  such  results  could 

be  got  with  any  kind  of  a  scheme.     I'm  ready 

200 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

to  admit  that  I  don't  know  it  all.  But  I've 
learned  some  things  while  I've  been  out  around. 
It  certainly  does  a  man  a  lot  of  good  to  see  what 
merchants  are  doing  in  other  towns  and  cities. 
You  can  sit  here  at  home  and  think  about  your 
business  all  you  want  to  but  there  are  lots  of 
things,  no  end  of  them,  that  you'll  never  think  of 
at  all." 

"You're  dead  right  on  that,  John.  I  some- 
times wonder  how  these  stay-at-home  fellows 
develop  as  much  business  as  they  do.  I  don't 
believe  in  a  man  gadding  about  the  country  and 
leaving  his  business  ordinarily,  but  there  are 
times  when  he  has  to  get  out  of  the  rut.  If  a 
fellow  sticks  right  close  and  never  goes  anywhere 
or  sees  anything  he  may  get  the  theory  of  the 
new  business  ideas  but  he  won't  have  the  big 
advantage  of  seeing  them  in  use.  And  then 
when  he  gets  out  he  has  a  chance  to  meet  live 
fellows  and  talk  with  them,  and  even  if  they 
don't  give  you  so  many  new  ideas,  they  give  you 
new  points  of  view  and  they  set  your  brain  work- 
ing along  a  new  line  and  you  figure  out  new 
ideas  for  yourself. 

"  That's  one  reason  why  a  man  ought  to  join 
an  association  in  his  line  of  business  and  in  his 
section  of  the  country.     Did  you  ever  notice  how 

201 


If 


I\ 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

few  members  there  are  in  the  meetings  of  the 
associations  compared  with  the  number  of  stay- 
at-homes  ? 

"  A  whole  lot  of  fellows  think  the  association 
don't  amount  to  anything  and  don't  do  any  good. 
They're  all  wrong.    The  associations  do  all  kinds 
of  good   in   a  general   way.     They   look   after 
legislation  and  they  help  raise  the  standard  of 
business.     They  may  be  run  by  cliques  as  a  lot 
of  men  say  they  are,  but  who  cares  ?     Somebody 
has  to  run  an  association  just  as  there  has  to  be 
an  organization  in  politics,  and  when  you  get 
right  down  to  brass  tacks,  the  fellows  who  are 
doing    the    kicking    aren't    generally    men    who 
could  take  hold  and  do  very  good  work  on  the 
job  themselves.    As  far  as  I've  noticed  the  men 
who  do  the  work  get  little  enough  out  of  it  in 
the  way  of  glory  or  money  for  the  time  they  use 
up.    As  far  as  I'm  concerned,  I'd  a  thousand 
times  rather  have  somebody  else  run  the  thing 
than  to  have  to  run  it  myself. 

"  If  all  these  knockers  would  stop  asking  what 
the  association  has  done  for  them  and  ask  them- 
selves what  they  ever  did  for  their  association, 
it  might  have  the  effect  of  starting  'em  thinking 
along  the  right  line. 

"  Suppose  the  association  hasn't  accomplished 
any  big  thing  that  helped  your  business,  if  you 

202 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

have  gone  to  the  meetings,  you  have  got  enough 
benefit  to  pay  you  a  hundred  times  for  all  it  cost 
—  and  you've  probably  had  a  darned  good  time 
as  well.  If  you  haven't  gone  to  the  meetings, 
how  can  you  complain  about  not  getting  any 
benefits?  What's  worth  having  is  generally 
worth  going  after. 

"  How  can  a  man  go  to  a  meeting  where  there 
are  from  a  dozen  to  a  hundred  other  men  who 
are  engaged  in  the  same  business,  without  getting 
some  ideas  if  he  talks  to  the  rest  of  them  about 
the  business  at  all?  He  can't.  If  he  just  goes 
and  keeps  his  mouth  shut,  if  his  ears  are  open 
he  is  going  to  find  out  some  things  worth  know- 
ing. And  a  fellow  never  knows  where  or  when 
he  may  pick  up  a  single  good  idea  that  will  be 
worth  a  hundred  dollars  or  several  hundred  to 
him  as  a  business  getter. 

"  Now,  you've  been  out  roaming  around  and 
you've  learned  a  good  many  things  and  a  lot  of 
them  may  never  prove  of  any  value  to  you,  but 
there  is  probably  some  one  good  idea  in  the  lot 
that  will  bring  you  in  some  day  several  times  as 
much  money  as  this  trip  has  cost  you. 

"  I'm  not  going  to  talk  to  you  all  night.  Here's 
the  key  to  your  store.  Here's  your  cash  book 
and  your  bank  book  and  you'll  find  everything 
else  where  you  left  it.     There's  just  one  ques- 

203 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

tion  I  want  to  ask  and  that's  really  none  of  my 
business.     Did  you  see  Dolly  Dingle  ?  " 

No,  I  didn't.     I've  never  even  written  her 
since  I  told  you  what  she  wrote  to  me." 

"  Good,"  said  the  older  man.  "  You  have  got 
some  sense  after  all.  Now  get  back  into  the 
harness  and  after  a  week  or  two,  just  run  down 
to  wherever  she  is  and  straighten  that  little  mat- 
ter out  and  bring  her  back  with  you  and  marry 
her.  Then  she'll  have  to  help  you  about  run- 
ning the  store  because  she'll  want  to  do  it. 
Come  on,  let's  go  home.  I'm  tired  and  I'll  bet 
you  are  too." 


FOURTEENTH  TALK 


USING   THE   WINDOWS 


20A 


"Hello,  Jerry!"  exclaimed  the  Old  Store- 
keeper as  he  walked  into  Barlow's  store  one 
morning  and  found  Jerry  Barnard  standing  near 
the  front  intently  examining  the  windows. 

"  Good  morning,  Mr.  Jenkins,"  responded  the 
clerk.  "  I'm  just  wondering  if  it  wouldn't  pay 
me  to  study  up  the  window  dressing  business, 
kind  of  make  a  specialty  of  it,  you  know.  I 
don't  know  as  I  could  make  much  right  here  in 
Hampton  as  a  window  dresser  but  after  I  got  to 
be  expert  I  could  get  a  good  job  somewhere, 
couldn't  I  ?  " 

"  I  think  you  could,  Jerry.  I  notice  your  dis- 
plays are  always  well  arranged  and  I  guess 
you've  got  some  talent  along  that  line.  I'm  not 
so  sure  that  Barlow  couldn't  afford  to  pay  you 
well  for  a  better  knowledge  of  that  kind  of  work. 
Most  merchants  could  afford  to  spend  more 
money  to  have  their  windows  right  if  they  rea- 
lized how  valuable  they  are. 

205 


m 


1.- 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"Now  you  know,  the  trade  papers  are  all  the 
while  telhng  how  to  make  window  displays  and 

merchants  minds  that  they  ought  to  spend  more 
time  and  money  on  window  dressing.     But  you 
go  out  and  look  at  the  windows  in  the  stores 
along  this  street  and  what  do  you  see?    You  see 
dirty  glass,  fly-specked  show  cards,  displays  that 
you  cant  get  up  any  interest  in;  pretty  near 
everything  but  what  you  ought  to  see.     It's  funny 
that  so  many  merchants  don't  think  about  their 
windows      I  guess  that's  all  there  is  to  it,  they 
just  don  t  think  of  them.     Anybody  with  any 
^ense  knows  that  window  displays  pay  mighty 

"Yes,"  said  Jerry,  "  I've  thought  of  that  a 
good  many  times.  The  merchants  out  here  in 
the  smaller  towns  don't  seem  to  want  to  bother 
with  their  windows." 

J  Well,  ril  tell  you  one  thing,  Jerry,  the  man 
who  doesn  t  want  to  bother  with  his  window 
displays  won't  need  to  be  bothered  with  a  very 
big  surplus  in  his  bank  account.  The  shiftless 
looking  window  won't  draw  any  trade,  but  more 
than  that,  it  will  drive  trade  away.  Who  wants 
to  trade  at  a  dirty,  shiftless  store?  And  who 
can  see  a  store  keep  up  that  kind  of  windows 
and  not  think  the  rest  of  the  store  is  the  same 

206 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

way  more  or  less?  I  can't.  I  always  judge  a 
man  first  by  his  clothes  and  a  store  by  its  win- 
dows. It's  natural  to  do  that.  A  fellow  may  be 
wrong  and  probably  he  is  in  a  good  many  cases, 
but  it's  generally  a  pretty  safe  bet  that  people 
who  are  shiftless  about  one  thing  are  shiftless 
about  all. 

"  You  can  learn  a  good  deal  right  here  with 
these  windows.  Subscribe  to  one  of  these  cor- 
respondence courses  in  window  trimming  and 
take  pains  to  get  out  of  it  all  you  can.  Of  course 
there's  no  use  in  a  man  buying  any  kind  of 
printed  information  and  then  shutting  it  up  in  a 
desk  or  a  book-case.  Get  hold  of  all  the  window 
matter  you  can  and  read  it.  Clip  all  the  items 
of  that  sort  out  of  your  trade  papers.  Barlow'U 
be  glad  to  have  you  save  anything  you  can  find 
in  the  journals  he  takes. 

"  Make  yourself  a  scrap-book  of  window  ideas 
and  if  you  keep  saving  that  sort  of  thing  you  will 
find  by  and  bye  that  when  you  want  an  idea 
about  how  to  dress  a  window,  instead  of  having 
to  think  it  all  put  for  yourself,  you  can  turn  to 
that  scrap-book  and  find  something  there  that 
will  save  you  the  time  and  trouble. 

"  Some  fellows  take  a  great  interest  in  their 
windows  for  a  little  while  and  then  get  tired  and 
let  it  go  for  a  month  just  about  as  it  may  happen 

207 


M'. 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

to  look     They  are  the  sort  of  men  who  do  every- 
thing else  on  that  same  plan.    A  spurt  is  good 
while  ,t  lasts,  but  why  not  keep  it  up.     That's 
what  I  ve  asked  several  of  the  merchants  in  this 
town.     They  all  admit  that  it's  a  good  idea  to  fix 
up    nice    window    displays    but    they    say   thev 
haven  t  got  the  time.     Of  course  that's  tommy- 
rot^    They  ve  got  time  for  anything  they  want 
to  do.     You  d  think,  the  way  they  work  it,  that 
there  was  an  open  and  closed  season  on  window 
dressing  just  like  there  is  on  quail. 

"A   window   display  is  the  greatest  bargain 
seller  there  is.    If  a  bargain  is  a  real  bargain 
all  that  IS  necessary  to  start  it  going  is  to  put  a 
nice  showing  of  it  into  the  windows. 

"  Pnnted  advertising  is  good.  It  is  fine,  but 
even  at  its  best  it  can't  show  the  reader  the  goods 
in  a  way  that  is  up  to  their  really  seeing  them. 
The  pnnted  matter  describes  the  goods  as  well 
as  It  can.  The  window  shows  them  and  there 
can  t  be  any  better  description  of  how  a  thine 
looks  than  that.  We  all  like  to  see  what  the 
goods  look  like  before  we  buy  them. 

"  Then  there  are  lots  of  goods  that  will  sell 
on  sight,  they're  so  attractive,  but  that  won't  sell 
at  all  well  on  printed  advertising. 

"  There  are  a  good  many  ways  of  making  peo- 
ple want  the  goods,  but  none  of  them  are  up  to 

208 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

displaying    them    right    in    the    window    where 
everyone  going  by  can  see  them. 

"  Of  course  if  the  goods  aren't  right,  showing 
may  not  help  much  toward  selling  them,  but  un- 
less you  are  in  the  mail  order  business,  your 
customers  have  got  to  see  most  of  their  goods 
before  they  take  them  away.  Better  have  the 
goods  right,  no  matter  how  you  sell  them. 

"  You  want  to  learn  more  about  making  good 
window  exhibits.  Well,  you  can  learn  about  as 
well  and  about  as  fast  from  experience  as  you 
can  in  any  other  way.  You  don't  need  to  hold 
yourself  down  to  making  one  display  a  week  in 
each  of  these  windows.  Make  just  as  many  as 
you  have  time  to  get  up.  I'll  bet  Barlow  won't 
care  much  how  many  times  you  change  displays 
if  it  doesn't  interfere  with  your  other  work." 

"  I'd  be  willing  to  work  nights  on  the  windows 
if  I  could  get  up  more  of  them,  for  the  practice 
and  experience,"  said  Jerry. 

"  That's  the  right  spirit  to  show,  young  man. 
If  you  feel  like  that  and  stick  to  it,  you'll  suc- 
ceed all  right  no  matter  what  you  tackle.  A 
man  who  really  wants  to  learn  can  learn  anything 
he  wants  to  if  he'll  give  it  over-time  and  lots  of 
enthusiasm. 

"A  man  ought  to  be  enthusiastic  about  his 
work  and  I  don't  know  of  any  pleasanter  work 

209 


I 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

or  any  that  ought  to  make  a  man  more  enthusi- 
astic than  dressing  windows.  It's  a  good  deal 
like  playing  to  an  audience.  YouVe  got  as  big 
an  audience  as  any  they  ever  have  over  there  in 
the  opera  house  and  you  can  interest  them  and 
make  them  stop  and  take  notice  and  you  can 
work  upon  their  feelings  until  they  come  in  and 
buy. 

"  Then  you  have  a  chance  to  make  displays 
just  as  beautiful  as  you  want  to.  In  that  way 
it's  a  good  deal  like  painting  a  picture.  Oh, 
window  dressing  is  great  work  and  I'd  like  to  be 
able  myself  to  do  it  as  well  as  some  fellows  I've 
seen  work  at  it. 

"A  window  is  worth  something  to  the  store 
every  day  just  as  the  newspaper  space  it  buys  is 
worth  something  every  issue  of  the  paper.  If 
a  man  leaves  his  window  empty  a  day  or  half  a 
day  unnecessarily,  it  is  just  like  leaving  his  news- 
paper space  vacant  for  an  issue.  An  empty 
window  is  costing  the  store  money.  No  mer- 
chant would  think  of  paying  for  newspaper  space 
that  he  was  to  leave  empty,  or  that  he  was  going 
to  fill  with  a  lot  of  jumbled  type  that  wouldn't 
spell  anything.  But  every  little  while  a  store 
will  leave  a  window  empty  a  day  more  than  is 
necessary,  or  it  will  put  into  it  temporarily  a  lot 
of  trash  that  will  look  badly. 

210 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"If  it  is  going  to  take  a  long  time  to  set  up  a 
special  display,  the  material  ought  to  be  all  got 
ready  and  right  at  hand  before  the  old  display  is 
taken  out,  and  a  fellow  ought  to  have  a  little  plan 
on  paper  of  the  display  he's  going  to  make,  so 
that  he  can  work  right  along  without  having  to 
stop  and  figure  out  what  to  do  next. 

"  I  think  city  merchants  realize  better  than 
others  what  their  windows  are  worth.  It  may  be 
only  that  the  man  in  the  city  finds  competition 
so  hot  that  he  knows  he  can't  afford  to  miss  any 
chance  for  getting  business.  Anyway  you  sel- 
dom see  a  city  store  window  left  empty  all  day. 
And  the  best  ones  are  all  trimmed  at  night  so 
that  valuable  daytime  won't  be  used  up  dressing 

them. 

"  It's  my  opinion  that  the  best  way  to  do  is  to 
trim  the  window  with  the  curtain  up  and  let  peo- 
ple see  what  is  going  on.  Somebody  working  in 
the  window  will  have  all  the  effect  of  a  motion 
display,  and  nothing  stops  people  any  quicker 
than  that. 

"  Of  course  there's  a  know  how,  a  theory  in 
window  dressing  that  a  fellow  ought  to  have  if 
he's  going  very  far  in  that  line  and  he  can  get 
that  out  of  some  of  the  books  and  lessons  pub- 
lished about  it.  It's  the  theory  that  helps  a  man 
to  put  the  right  colors  together  and  keep  the 

211 


I 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


Material  ought  to  be  got  ready  before  the  old  display  I 

taken   out,'* 


iS 


212 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

wrong  ones  apart,  to  place  the  goods  where  they 
will  be  the  easiest  seen  and  in  the  light  that  will 
show  up  their  good  qualities  best.  I  believe  that 
it  pays  a  man  to  learn  the  scientific  side  of  his 
work,  whatever  it  is.  Then  he  knows  the  rea- 
sons for  things. 

''  These  complicated  windows  that  some  men 
get  up,  gingerbready  looking  shows  that  have  so 
much  fancy  work  to  them  that  you  can't  make 
head  or  tail  to  them  without  a  chart ;  they  don't 
sell  goods  like  the  simple  displays.  Simplicity 
in  window  displays  is  a  good  deal  like  simplicity 
in  art  or  in  a  woman's  gown.  You  know,  the 
most  expensive  and  the  most  attractive  costumes 
are  usually  the  simplest. 

"  Simplicity  is  easy  to  understand.  It  points 
out  something  that  anyone  can  see  and  it  points 
out  just  one  thing  and  it  doesn't  confuse  the 
mind.  A  mixed  up  window  is  just  like  a  mixed 
up  advertisement  and  it's  a  good  deal  like  these 
old  '  Hats,  caps,  boot  and  shoes  '  advertisements 
that  our  grandfathers  used  to  run. 

"  I  said  for  you  to  keep  a  scrap-book ;  well, 
I'll  advise  you  to  go  further  and  besides  saving 
everything  you  see  printed  about  windows,  write 
down  everything  you  hear  and  make  a  note  of 
every  good  window  display  you  see  in  another 
store.    And  if  I  were  you  and  was  going  on  a 

213 


m 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

vacation,  I  believe  Td  take  in  a  city  or  two  or 
some  big  towns  and  just  make  a  study  of  the 
way  they  handle  their  window  displays,  not  only 
in  your  line,  but  in  everybody's  line,  because  a 
jeweler  for  instance,  will  often  get  a  good  win- 
dow idea  from  a  cigar  store  or  a  grocer  from  a 
furniture  man  and  so  on." 

"  I  had  thought  of  Uking  a  little  trip  around, 
kind  of  on  that  plan,''  said  Jerry.  "  I  was  going 
to  the  city  and  then  take  some  trolley  trips  into 
big  towns  around  there  and  look  and  see  what 
other  stores  do  to  get  up  good  looking  windows." 
"  Son,  you've  got  the  right  idea.  Keep  your 
eyes  opened  wide  when  you're  trotting  around 
and  you'll  see  a  lot  of  things  that  will  give  you 
ideas  for  your  use  later.  But  don't  think  you 
can  remember  all  the  things  you  see.  Set  'em 
down.  You  won't  be  able  to  turn  to  'em  when 
you  want  'em  if  you  don't  write  'em  out. 

"I've  seen  a  lot  of  different  kinds  of  good 
windows  made  with  dolls.  If  you  can  hit  the 
human  idea,  put  the  human  touch  into  a  few  dolls 
used  in  a  display,  you  will  stop  the  people.  The 
nearer  you  get  to  a  reality  in  your  display,  the 
better.  If  I  were  a  window  dresser,  I'd  have  on 
hand  all  the  time  a  whole  family  of  dolls  in  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  costumes  and  I'd  get  up  window 
displays  that  would  show  actual  scenes  on  a  re- 

214 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

duced  scale.  For  one  thing,  the  dolls  will  get  the 
kids'  attention  and  they'll  go  home  and  tell  their 
mothers  about  them  and  that  means  more  people 
coming  to  look.  I  think  that  a  supply  of  dolls 
is  just  about  as  necessary  for  window  dressing 
as  colored  crepe  paper,  and  nobody  can  get  along 
without  that  occasionally. 

"  A  fellow's  foolish  to  try  to  get  along  with- 
out window  fixtures.  It  used  to  be  that  nobody 
had  any  real  fixtures  for  a  window  except  the 
big  department  store  folks,  and  they  didn't  have 
much.  But  now  anybody  can  afford  some  kind 
of  fixtures.  You  can  get  them  in  nickel,  or  in 
glass  or  wood  or  in  wood  and  glass.  You  ought 
to  have  a  few  pieces  of  plate  glass  too.  They'll 
come  in  handy.  And  mirrors  will  keep  people 
standing  in  front  of  the  windows  longer.  The 
men  laugh  at  the  women  for  their  liking  to  look 
at  themselves  in  the  glass,  but  I  tell  you  those 
same  men  don't  miss  any  chances  to  do  the  same 
thing.  Work  in  a  mirror  as  often  as  you  can 
where  it  will  give  a  person  on  the  outside  a 
chance  to  see  himself  (or  herself)  as  others  see 
him  and  you'll  make  a  hit  by  it  every  time. 

"  There  isn't  any  kind  of  advertising  where 
it's  as  important  to  have  the  goods  advertised  of 
a  timely  sort  and  advertised  in  a  timely  way  as 
in  the  windows.     Have  the  goods  in  the  windows 

215 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

that  the  people  are  thinking  about  buying  now 
or  in  a  very  short  time.  Don't  fill  up  the  win- 
dows with  goods  that  sold  well  last  month  and 
that  are  ancient  history  now.  Keep  the  windows 
up  to  date  and  then  some.  The  store  that  shows 
the  advancing  season  in  its  windows  will  get  the 
first  demand  for  the  goods. 

"  Window  displays  are  made  to  show  the  peo- 
ple what  you  have  to  sell  and  to  make  them  want 
to  buy  it.  If  you  keep  that  in  mind  you  can't 
go  far  astray. 

"  A  window  that  is  made  just  to  look  pretty 
may  do  that  and  yet  not  produce  any  appreciable 
amount   of   business.     There  must  be  an   idea 
behind  the  display.     It  must  send  the  observer 
on  his  way  thinking  about  the  goods  and  carry- 
mg  in  his  mind  some  one  good  point  concerning 
them.     Plenty  of  expensive  window  shows  stop 
with    merely   attracting   attention.     They    show 
freaks  or  live  animals  or  something  in  motion  and 
whatever  it  is,  it  bears  no  relation  to  the  goods 
and  the  fellow  who  stops  and  looks  it  over  goes 
away  thinking  about  a  tame  white  rat  or  a  ball 
that  rolls  around  and  around.     The  man  who 
made  the  display  didn't  have  any  connecting  link 
between  the  attraction  and  the  goods  to  be  adver- 
tised.    The  display  was  a  show,  not  an  adver- 
tisement at  all.     Shows  are  all  right.     I  like  a 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

good  show  myself.  Put  them  in  the  window  if 
you  want  to,  but  don't  forget  that  it's  business 
you  want  more  than  a  curious  crowd  standing  in 
front  in  idle  curiosity. 

"  Drawing  a  crowd  doesn't  necessarily  mean 
drawing  business,  you  know.  The  attraction 
that  doesn't  advertise  goods  is  pretty  apt  to  draw 
a  crowd  that  hasn't  much  money  and  is  only  put- 
ting in  time  seeing  what  can  be  seen  on  the 
street.  Better  one  woman  standing  in  front  of 
a  window  trying  to  decide  what  article  to  go  in 
and  buy  than  forty  men  and  women  and  boys 
haw-hawing  over  the  antics  of  a  monkey  and 
then  going  on  about  their  business  —  if  they  have 
any. 

"  One  thing  you  don't  want  to  forget  and  that 
is  that  the  manufacturers  that  make  the  goods 
that  sell  best  in  your  store  are,  most  of  them, 
ready  to  help  you  to  get  up  good  window  dis- 
plays of  their  goods.  Lots  of  those  people  have 
ready  made  displays  that  only  need  to  be  set  up. 
Too  many  of  those  '  dummy '  shows  are  worth 
just  about  what  they  cost  you.  They  are  trash. 
Some  aren't  and  for  the  good  ones  I  haven't  any- 
thing bad  to  say,  but  for  the  bad  ones  I  haven't 
anything  good  to  say. 

"  If  the  manufacturer  of  the  line  you  want  to 
push  in  the  window  has  not  sent  you  any  window 

217 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

matter  of  use,  or  information  about  any,  write 
and  ask  him  what  he  can  do  for  you.  Get  up  a 
plan  of  a  window  trim  and  send  it  to  him  and  ask 
him  what  he  can  do  to  help  you  make  it  a  suc- 
cess. Live,  advertising  manufacturers  are  do- 
ing more  and  more  all  the  time  to  help  the  re- 
tailer make  good  displays.  They  know,  better 
than  the  retailer  himself,  what  those  displays  are 
worth. 

"  Say,  Where's  Barlow  ?  I  didn't  come  in  here 
to  talk  an  arm  off  from  you  about  window  dress- 
ing.    I  wanted  to  see  the  boss." 

"  He's  gone  out,"  said  Jerry.  ''  Vm  glad  you 
didn't  think  of  that  before  or  I'd  have  missed  all 
these  pointers.  I'm  going  into  this  window  busi- 
ness stronger  and  I'll  be  up  to  the  house  some 
night  to  get  some  more  of  your  good  opinions. 
I'm  sure  Mr.  Barlow  will  let  me  do  anything  I 
want  to  about  the  windows  and  I'm  thinking  of 
making  some  improvements  in  the  construction 
of  them." 

'\  That's  right,  Jerry.  When  you  see  a  chance 
to  improve  the  store  or  the  service  in  it,  you  put 
it  up  to  the  boss  every  time.  He'll  appreciate  it 
and  it  won't  do  you  any  harm  either.  Well,  tell 
him  that  you  saw  me.     So  long !  " 


218 


FIFTEENTH  TALK 

DEVELOPING  HIGH  CLASS  TRADE 

"Well,  where  the  dickens  are  you  going?" 
Tobias  asked  Barlow  as  the  latter  walked  into 
the  smoking  car  and  took  a  seat  beside  the  Old 
Storekeeper  who  was  already  comfortably  located 
and  waiting  for  the  afternoon  New  York  train  to 

pull  out. 

"  Oh,  I'm  going  on  a  little  errand  that  you 
told  me  a  while  ago  I'd  better  do  one  of  these 

days." 

"  Oh,  I  see.  Well,  you  have  my  best  washes 
for  a  successful  trip.     Bring  her  back  with  you 

if  you  can." 

"  I'll  do  my  best,"  replied  Barlow.  "  By  the 
way,  I'm  going  to  be  in  the  city  over  a  day  and 
I  believe  I'll  look  up  a  jobber  or  two  and  see  if 
I  can't  get  hold  of  one  that  carries  a  higher  class 
of  goods  than  those  fellows  we've  been  buying 

of  for  years." 

"  That's  a  mighty  good  idea,  John.  When  I 
was  in  business  we  always  thought  that  as  long 

219 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


"Barlow  walked  into  the  smoking  car," 


220 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

as  a  wholesale  house  treated  us  right  we  had  to 
buy  everything  from  them  and  never  look  at 
any  other  line.  That  isn't  the  way  to  do  it  now 
though.  It  does  well  enough  to  buy  from  one 
house  as  much  as  you  can  and  keep  them  inter- 
ested in  you,  but  a  man's  a  fool  if  he  doesn't  see 
what  the  other  houses  can  do  for  him. 

"  And  then,  as  you  say,  these  people  youVe 
been  buying  from  don't  carry  as  high  class  a  line 
as  they  might  and  you  can't  develop  the  business 
in  their  kinds  of  goods  unless  you  get  in  the  way 
of  offering  better  and  better  goods  all  the  time. 
You  want  to  keep  hitching  the  quality  of  your 
line  up  all  the  time.  If  you  keep  just  the  same 
grade  of  goods  year  after  year,  your  customers 
will  buy  just  that  grade  as  long  as  they  are  sat- 
isfied with  it  and  go  to  some  other  store  when 
they  want  something  better. 

"  Of  course  you  might  not  have  any  call  for 
a  better  article  in  any  line  than  you  are  keeping, 
but  one  of  your  customers  who  thought  he  was 
perfectly  satisfied  with  your  kind  of  goods  might 
get  into  another  store  and  be  shown  something 
that  would  look  better,  taste  better,  wear  better 
or  be  more  stylish  and  he  would  willingly  pay 
more  for  it  and  keep  on  buying  that  better  grade 
while  you  wondered  why  you  had  lost  his  trade. 

"And  about  the  first  step  to  take  in  prepar- 

221 


if 

ii 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

ing  to  raise  the  class  of  your  stock  and  conse- 
quently to  improve  the  class  of  your  customers, 
is  to  get  to  buying  from  better  people,  people 
who  handle  classier  goods." 

"Well,"  said  Barlow,  "I  didn't  have  it  all 
thought  out  like  that  but  I  had  about  come  to  the 
same  conclusion.  I've  been  getting  a  first  class 
business  since  you  got  me  started  up  the  hill 
again  but  I  don't  seem  to  be  getting  the  best 
families  in  town.  I  don't  know  who  is  getting 
them.  I  have  an  idea  that  they  are  sending 
away  for  a  lot  of  the  goods  they  use  because  they 
can't  get  them  in  Hampton." 

"  You're  on  the  right  track,  my  boy.  It's  the 
old  story  of  a  man  not  being  able  to  sell  the 
goods  if  he  doesn't  have  'em.  This  idea  that 
nothing  will  sell  except  what  we  are  already 
having  a  call  for  is  all  bosh.  There's  a  lot  more 
merchants  stuck  with  buying  cheap  trash  than 
ever  got  stuck  by  buying  goods  that  are  too  good. 
"  Of  course  the  big  business  is  the  business  of 
the  masses,  the  average  folks  who  don't  have  a 
whole  lot  of  money,  but  all  the  same  the  trade 
of  the  people  who  do  have  money  is  mighty  nice 
trade  and  in  a  big  town  a  man  can  sometimes  get 
along  with  nothing  else.  There's  quite  a  lot  of 
families  in  Hampton  that  have  money  enough  to 
buy  the  best  of  things.     If  you're  selling  them 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

cheaper  grades,  it's  because  you  don't  have  the 
better  ones  or  don't  call  their  attention  to  them. 

"A  little  time  spent  in  explaining  to  a  man 
how  and  why  this  better  article  will  give  him  bet- 
ter service  and  save  him  money  will  make  money 
for  you  and  make  satisfied  customers  too  because 
when  a  fellow  gets  the  goods  home  he  thinks  of 
their  quality  of tener  than  he  does  of  their  cost. 

"  Besides  the  best  quality  interesting  the  peo- 
ple with  the  most  money  it  generally  interests 
the  careful  buyers  who  don't  have  much  money. 
The  man  who  has  good,  sound  judgment  and  a 
slim  pocketbook  is  pretty  apt  to  buy  as  good  a 
grade  of  goods  as  he  can  afford  because  he 
knows  it  pays  him. 

"Of  course  it  takes  time  to  make  sales  of 
better  goods.  That  is,  when  you  ask  a  man  to 
pay  more  money  than  he  has  been  in  the  habit 
of  paying  for  an  article  for  a  certain  purpose,  he 
is  going  to  want  to  know  why  and  wherefore. 
He  won't  just  take  your  word  off-hand  that  the 
goods  are  better  and  consequently  cheaper  in  the 
end.  You  will  have  to  show  him  that  they  are 
better  and  that  they  will  save  him  money.  That 
means  that  you've  got  to  be  posted  on  the  quality 
and  the  reasons  for  it  in  the  case  of  the  better 
goods.  A  man  ought  to  know  all  about  the 
goods  he  sells  anyway.     He  can't  be  much  of  a 

223 


I 


I 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

salesman  along  any  line  unless  he  is  wise  on  his 
stock. 

"And  if  a  merchant  is  going  to  push  high 
class  goods  and  cater  to  the  high  grade  trade,  he 
has  got  to  have  high  class  help.  Cheap,  careless, 
ignorant,  sloppy  clerks  can't  get  or  hold  the 
trade  of  high  class  efficient  people  who  know 
quality  in  a  man  when  they  see  it,  as  well  as  in 
goods.  Why,  look  at  this  conductor  coming! 
Couldn't  you  tell  by  the  way  he  walks  and  by  the 
looks  of  his  uniform  that  he's  working  on  a  first 
rate  train?  There's  something  about  him  that 
shows  it. 

"A  good  many  merchants  think  of  the  high 
class  trade  as  the  trade  of  millionaires.  This  is 
a  mistake.  Such  people  usually  buy  the  best 
grade  of  goods  and  belong  in  the  best  class  of 
customers,  but  the  high  class  trade  includes  any- 
body who  will  buy  high  class  articles. 

"  These  people  who  pay  more  money  usually 
give  their  buying  more  consideration.  They 
take  more  time  to  it.  Sometimes  they  are  pretty 
finicky,  but  it's  worth  while  to  bear  with  their 
peculiarities.     It  pays." 

"  I  have  some  of  that  kind  of  customers  all 
right,"  said  Barlow.  "You  know  old  Granny 
Bitters,  and  Joe  Potts  ?  " 

"  Yes,  they're  finicky.     No  doubt  about  it,  but 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

they're  the  sort  that  are  finicky  by  nature,  not  by 
pocketbook.  They're  just  naturally  too  stingy  to 
live.  Why,  you  know  the  time  Billy  Finnegin 
ordered  a  cord  of  wood  from  Joe  Potts  and  told 
him  that  it  must  be  tip-top  wood  or  he  wouldn't 
pay  for  it  ?  No !  Well  Joe  brought  the  cord  of 
wood  and  it  was  the  worst  looking  '  buzz-wood ' 
you  ever  saw;  all  little  bits  of  sticks  about  an 
inch  or  two  through.  Of  course  Billy  kicked 
but  what  do  you  think  Joe  told  him?  Why,  he 
said  '  Didn't  you  say  you  wanted  tip-top  wood  ? 
If  you  can  get  any  that  comes  from  nearer  the 
tip  top  of  the  trees  you  can't  get  it  o'  me.' 

"One  thing  that's  worth  learning  about  the 
best  trad^  is  that  you  are  wasting  time  and  los- 
ing trade  by  trying  to  sell  them  something  they 
don't  want.  I  just  believe  that  the  best  sales- 
manship with  the  millionaire  class  is  giving  them 
what  they  ask  for  and  asking  no  question  and 
telling  no  lies.  Those  people  want  high  grade, 
standard  advertised  goods.  They  know  what 
they  want  —  or  they  think  they  do  —  and  you 
just  make  'em  mad  by  trying  to  sell  them  some- 
thing just  as  good. 

"  They  aren't  as  a  rule  personal  acquaintances 
that  you  have  any  drag  with.  You're  their  mer- 
chant. They  decide  what  they  want  and  all  they 
want  you  to  do  is  to  deliver  the  goods." 

225 


/■ 


iMjgii.JiTijn.igj. 


^=v 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


"Didn't  you  say  you  wanted  tip-top  wood?" 


226 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  I've  had  a  few  little  experiences  with  such 
people/'  admitted  Barlow.  "There's  Mrs. 
Loftis.  Once  or  twice  she  came  in  and  wanted 
some  goods  we  don't  carry  and  I  tried  to  get  her 
to  let  me  show  her  something  else  of  the  same 
kind.  Not  for  a  minute!  I  couldn't  get  the 
goods  off  the  shelf  before  she  was  outside  get- 
ting into  her  automobile." 

"Well,  there  you've  got  it.  That's  just  the 
way  those  people  feel  about  the  things  they  want. 
You  may  have  something  just  as  good.  You 
may  have  something  even  better,  but  it's  mighty 
seldom  you  get  a  chance  to  sell  it  to  them  if  you 
don't  have  what  they  came  for.  A  fellow's  got 
to  carry  the  advertised  brands  nowadays.  They 
will  go  a  long  way  toward  helping  him  to  get  the 
best  trade. 

"  A  man  has  got  to  be  careful  too  about  his 
advertising  if  he  wants  it  to  attract  such  people. 
You  know  yourself  that  it  wouldn't  do  to  adver- 
tise the  classiest  goods  in  the  store  on  a  big, 
cheap  poster  that  looks  like  a  fire  sale  sheet. 
And  it  doesn't  get  you  anything  to  use  that  same 
fire  sale  style  in  the  newspapers  either.  The  ad- 
vertising of  high  grade  goods  ought  to  be  high 
grade  advertising.  It  ought  to  read  like  high 
class  talk  and  it  ought  to  look  like  high  class 
printing.     This  is  the  truest  of  the  kind  of  ad- 

227 


i^ 

#: 
^ 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

vertisements  you  send  right  to  the  people  by  mail. 

"  If  you  aren't  willing  to  have  your  store 
judged  by  the  advertisement,  don't  you  send  it 
out.  Just  think  over  the  advertising  that  comes 
to  you  every  day  or  so  and  see  if  you  don't 
pretty  near  size  up  a  house  by  the  kind  of  printed 
matter  it  sends  out. 

''  High  class  advertising  to  high  class  folks 
ought  to  have  more  white  space  on  it.  It  ought 
to  have  a  more  dignified  tone.  The  type  ought 
not  to  be  so  black  or  so  circus-postery.  I  never 
was  very  strong  for  a  lot  of  dignity  in  advertis- 
ing. I  believe  in  pretty  plain  talk,  but  there's  a 
happy  medium.  The  too  dignified  advertising 
doesn't  get  enough  readers  and  the  sensational 
kind  is  passed  right  by  by  the  high  class  trade. 
It  gives  your  store  a  cheap  reputation  with  them 
and  it  is  pretty  hard  to  get  rid  of  such  a  reputa- 
tion with  folks  who  want  '  Tiffany '  on  their  sta- 
tionery and  silverware  boxes  and  '  Park  and  Til- 
ford  '  on  their  groceries. 

''You  don't  want  to  be  subservient  to  the 
aristocratic  customers.  They  do  not  think  any 
more  of  a  man  because  he  gets  down  on  his 
knees  and  begs  them  to  buy  from  him.  But  you 
do  want  to  be  respectful  and  show  some  consid- 
eration for  their  opinions  and  a  great  deal  of 
appreciation  for  their  trade.     I  tell  you  human 

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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

nature's  just  the  same  in  a  millionaire  as  it  is  in 
a  truck  driver.  People  are  born  sensitive  or 
selfish,  generous  or  grouchy.  It  ain't  money 
that  makes  'em  so.  When  you  get  right  down  to 
it,  it's  the  man  you're  dealing  with  and  not  his 
pocketbook.  If  you  get  to  the  man,  you'll  get 
to  his  pocketbook  all  right,  all  right. 

"There  isn't  any  much  better  way  of  adver- 
tising to  the  best  families  and  to  the  best  class  of 
trade  of  all  kinds  than  by  actual  typewritten 
personal  letters.  Suppose  you  pick  out  a  dozen 
people  whose  trade  you  are  very  anxious  to  get 
and  just  write  each  of  them  a  personal  letter 
every  two  weeks  for  a  little  while,  calling  their 
special  attention  to  some  certain  thing  that  you 
know  they  might  use  but  that  they  maybe  don't 
know  that  you  sell.  That  is  sure  to  get  under 
their  belt.  Anyone  will  read  a  real  letter.  And 
after  you  get  the  interest  of  most  of  the  first 
lot,  take  up  another  little  list  and  work  it  in  the 
same  way.  Give  'em  personal  attention  and 
they'll  give  you  personal  attention. 

"  There  is  a  class  of  trade  that  is  really  a  part 
of  the  high  class  kind  that  wants  what  it  buys 
to  show  its  value  right  on  the  face  of  it.  It  has 
money  to  spend,  that  class,  and  it  wants  everyone 
to  know  it.  People  like  that  need  to  be  given  a 
show   for  their  money.     They  like  ostentation 

229 


t  , 


n 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

and  flash.  If  those  people  want  to  buy  their 
high  priced  goods  right  out  in  the  middle  of  the 
store  so  that  everyone  can  see  what  they  are 
spending,  help  them  to  do  it.  If  you  do  you  will 
make  them  buy  more  yet.  When  such  people 
get  to  spending  they  buy  easily  and  they  don't 
stop  to  ask  too  many  questions.  Help  them  to 
go  their  limit. 

"  But  there  is  another  class  that  buys  less 
flashy  goods  but  even  more  expensive  ones. 
These  people  want  actual  value  rather  than  show. 
They  want  the  finest  quality  and  they  are  dis- 
criminating. And  they  don't  want  their  pur- 
chases advertised  on  the  housetops.  They  are 
quiet,  refined,  sensitive  people  who  would  rather 
buy  in  a  quiet  corner  where  they  can  discuss  the 
goods  without  outsiders  hearing  or  seeing  what 
is  going  on.  Learn  to  know  these  people  and  to 
please  them  and  you'll  get  their  money  to  put 
with  that  of  the  new-rich. 

"  Sometimes  rich  people  have  idiosyncrasies 
that  are  worth  studying.  They  have  their  little 
pet  economies.  They  have  never  paid  more  than 
a  certain  amount  for  this  or  that  necessity  of 
housekeeping.  True,  they  could  just  as  well  pay 
ten  times  the  price  and  never  feel  it  but  they 
like  to  economize  in  those  certain  ways.  And 
very  likely  they  do  not  care  to  have  everyone 

230 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 
know  it.    Show  such  feeling  a  proper  consider- 
ation and  keep  them  coming  where  they  do  not 
have  to  explain  everytime  what  they  want  and 
whv  they  buy  the  cheaper  brand. 

"It  is  a  good  plan  to  see  that  all  the  clerks, 
especially  the  new  ones  learn  the  names  of  these 
local  '  Four  hundred '  folks.  It  saves  a  good 
many  uncomfortable  occurrences  if  the  new  clerk 
does  not  make  any  bad  break  with  the  Money- 
bags family  when  their  purchasing  agent  comes 

'"  People  with  money,  the  same  as  people  with- 
out it,  like  to  be  called  by  name  when  they  come 
to  the  store.  It  gives  them  a  feelmg  of  im- 
portance and  makes  them  want  to  come  agam. 
It  is  easy  to  instruct  the  older  clerks  to  mention 
certain  customers'  names  to  the  new  help  when- 
ever a  chance  offers. 

« If  you  have  goods  to  deliver  to  customers 
who  like  style,  don't  send  them  around  m  a 
cheap,  dirty  cart  pulled  by  a  broken  down  nag 
Don't  send  them  by  a  barefoot  boy  with  ragged 
clothes.  Whatever  kind  of  delivery  you  are 
using,  make  it  look  as  if  the  store  had  some  snap 
behind  it.  A  few  brass  buttons  and  a  natty  cap 
will  go  a  long  way  toward  making  a  styhsh  de- 

*^"  Why,  if  I  was  running  a  store  that  had  its 

231 


I 


"! 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

delivering  done  by  a  small  boy  outside  of  school 
hours,  I'd  have  a  jacket  and  cap  for  him  that 
would  make  him  look  like  business  style.  The 
trouble  isn't  that  storekeepers  can't  afford  to 
look  after  these  little  things  that  count  but  that 
they  don't  think  of  it.  You  think,  '  Gee !  I  can't 
afford  a  liveried  delivery!'  perhaps,  but  how 
much  would  a  cap  and  a  jacket  and  a  box  of  shoe 
polish  cost  ?  I  tell  you  it  will  pay  a  man  to  look 
after  these  matters  pretty  closely  if  he  is  anx- 
ious to  get  the  trade  of  the  people  who  have  the 
most  money. 

"One  thing  that  the  best  class  of  trade  de- 
mands is  that  you  make  no  mistakes  with  them. 
You  can  make  mistakes  in  sending  goods  to  your 
friends  and  they'll  say  '  That's  all  right.    Acci- 
dents will  happen'  but  by  George!  when  you 
make  a  mistake  on  Mr.  Bank  Account's  order 
you'll  hear  from  him  with  a  call  down  that  will 
make  you  think  you're  in  the  hands  of  the  law. 
Mr.  B.  A.  hasn't  any  more  right  to  call  you  down 
than  your  friend  perhaps.     His  money  isn't  any 
better,  but  there's  more  of  it  and  he's  used  to 
having  people  step  lively  when  he  speaks  and 
he's  used  to  having  things  done  the  way  he  or- 
ders them  done.     If  you  can't  do  them  that  way, 
you'll    mighty    quick    find    yourself    minus    his 
patronage. 

232 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  It  may  be  foolish  for  him  to  act  that  way. 
I'm  not  holding  any  brief  for  him,  but  he  does 
do  it  and  when  we're  going  after  trade  we  have 
to  deal  with  facts  as  they  are  and  not  as  they 

ought  to  be. 

"Now,  you've  got  a  good  premium  scheme 
working.'  Don't  think  for  a  minute  that  your 
best  trade  doesn't  know  or  care  anything  about 
it.  Something  for  nothing  appeals  just  about  as 
strongly  to  one  person  as  to  another.  See  that 
the  people  who  are  entitled  to  checks  for  premi- 
ums get  them.  The  folks  who  have  money  may 
be  even  more  bashful  about  kicking  when  you 
forget  than  those  who  haven't  and  they  may  try 
to  make  it  look  as  if  they  didn't  care,  but  they 

do  just  the  same." 

"I've  noticed  that  much  already,"  said  Bar- 
low. "The  women  who  have  the  most  money 
are  the  most  anxious  to  get  a  bargain  or  to  get  a 
free  premium.    I   do  all   I   can   to   encourage 

them." 

"You're  on  the  right  track  and  —  say,  what 
station  is  this?  Hey,  conductor,  let  me  out! 
This  is  my  stop!"  and  Tobias  grabbed  his  bag 
and  rushed  for  the  door  as  the  conductor  pulled 
the  bell  rope  and  slowed  the  train  down  just  as  it 
was  almost  out  of  the  yards. 

"  I  knew  he  meant  to  get  off  here,"  said  the 

233 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

conductor  to  Barlow,  "but  I  didn't  notice  he 
hadn't  till  we  started  up  and  I  came  in  here. 
Pretty  keen  old  chap,  that/' 

"  You  bet  he  is,"  said  Barlow.  "  Nobody's 
got  anything  on  him  in  the  storekeeping  line,"  and 
he  turned  to  see  Tobias  waving  his  hand  from 
the  bank  beside  the  last  switch  block. 


234 


SIXTEENTH  TALK 


SELF-SELLING   GOODS 

The  Old  Storekeeper  was  kept  away  from 
home  longer  than  he  had  expected  to  remain  and 
it  was  some  three  weeks  later  than  our  last  chap- 
ter when  at  last  he  returned. 

One  of  the  first  things  his  wife  told  him  was 
that  John  Barlow  had  come  back  and  brought 
his  wife  with  him. 
"  His  wife!  "  ejaculated  Tobias. 
"  Why  yes,"  said  his  better  half, 
away    and   got   married   to   Dolly 
brought  her  right  home  with  him." 
"  Well,  ril  be  — " 
"  Tobias ! " 

"  Well,  anyway  I'll  be  jiggered!  I  went  away 
on  the  same  train  with  John  and  he  said  he  was 
going  to  try  to  make  up  a  quarrel  he'd  had  with 
Dolly  but  he  didn't  say  anything  about  getting 

married." 

"  Probably  he  didn't.    When  you  were  coming 

235 


"  He  went 
Dingle   and 


■< 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

out  to  Illinois  to  marry  me  did  you  shout  it  at 
everybody  you  met  on  the  road  ?  " 

"Well,  pretty  near.  I  remember  telling  the 
conductor  and  the  brakeman  on  the  train." 

"  John's  got  an  awfully  pretty  wife,"  said  Mrs. 
Jenkins. 

"Yes,  and  he's  got  a  wife  that's  something 
more  than  just  pretty,  if  I'm  any  judge.  Dolly 
Dingle,  I  mean  Dolly  — Mrs.  Barlow,  knows  a 
thing  or  two  about  a  business  like  John's  and  I'll 
bet  she'll  give  him  some  pointers  that'll  do  him 
good.  I'm  going  down  and  see  him,  or  them, 
whichever  it  happens  to  be." 

So  Tobias  hurried  down  to  the  store  and 
found  that  it  was  "them"  sure  enough,  for 
Dolly  was  at  work  in  the  store  rearranging,  or 
rather  directing  the  rearranging  of  stock,  while 
John  sat  in  his  revolving  office  chair  trying  to 
work  at  his  books  but  looking  rather  foolish 
when  he  saw  Tobias  come  in. 

After  the  greetings  that  the  occasion  de- 
manded were  over  between  the  three,  Mrs.  Bar- 
low said, 

"  Mr.  Jenkins,  I've  been  wanting  to  ask  you 
something  ever  since  I  got  back  and  have  been 
helping  John  here.  Now,  we  have  a  fine  stock 
of  standard  goods  but  we  seem  to  be  short  on 
the  odds  and  ends,  the  lines  that  sell  themselves 

236 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

and  that  bring  people  in  and  give  them  a  chance 
to  see  what  else  we  have.  I've  been  talking  the 
five,  ten  and  twenty-five  cent  idea  to  John  but  he 
seems  to  think  it  would  cheapen  our  store  to 
handle  a  lot  of  such  goods  and  I  don't  know  but 
he's  right.     What  do  you  think  about  it  ?  " 

"  You  put  it  right  square  up  to  me,  don't  you  ? 
The  last  time  I  was  talking  to  John  it  was  about 
a  very  different  line  of  goods.  We  were  dis- 
cussing the  ways  of  getting  the  higher  priced 
and  higher  qualities  of  stock  to  sell  better  and  it 
may  be  that  anything  I  say  in  favor  of  the  bar- 
gain counter  idea  may  look  as  if  it  gave  that 

other  talk  the  lie. 

"  In  the  first  place  I'm  going  to  admit  right 
off  the  reel  that  if  a  man  is  catering  exclusively, 
exclusively  mind  you,  to  the  high  class  trade, 
he'd  better  leave  out  anything  like  the  five,  ten 
and    twenty-five    cent    counters,   bargain   base- 
ment, etc.     He'd  better  stick  to  class.     But  in 
Hampton    and    most    other    towns    there    isn't 
enough  of  the  exclusive  high  class  trade  to  make 
a  business  a  success  on  that  alone.    It's  only  in 
the  big  city  that  there  is,  and  even  there  if  a  man 
wants  to  build  up  a  really  big  business  he  needs 
the  trade  of  everybody  he  can  get  to  come  into 

the  store. 

"  You  want  the  high  class  trade  and  you  want 

237 


W>i 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 
the   trade  of  the   so   called   '  common   people.' 

TofilT  T"  ^"'  ''''"'  ^°*^-  ^^^P  '^^  goods 
wonV  K      i"''"^"  '"'*°'"'''^  •"  P^^^^«  where  they 

TrLin  ..  r'i'^  ^^  ^'''''  comparison  with 
bargain  stock.  Have  your  classiest  goods  by 
themselves  where  the  people  who  are  buying 

W  tlT^^  *'^"  V^^^'^''  — «<!  way/and 
have  the  bargam  goods  collected  in  places  where 

they  won  t  bring  any  discomfort  from  crowding 

ZsTu  "^*^t^P"-  "Pon  the  few  custom' 
ers  you  have  of  the  most  aristocratic  class. 

1  believe  m  a  separate  bargain  department 
for  bargam  goods,  but  you  aren't  in  shape  to 
hand!  th,t  here  just  now,  so  you  can  develop 
separate  bargam  tables  or  counters. 

Just  as  soon  as  you  can  afford  to  enlarge 
your  store,  plan  a  big  section  to  be  devoted  to 

sem;^,'  *^""*y-fi^^  <=^"t  goods  of  the  quick 
sdhng,  hve  wire  sort.  Those  goods  don't  tie  up 
much  money  and  they  turn  over  fast.  They 
make  you  rather  small  profits  perhaps  but  they 

a^^hfs^re.^^*  °^  *^^-  -^  ^^^^  -^"g  people 

soltJV^  general  stores  and  big  and  successful 
special  Stores  are  losing  unnecessary  trade  to 
pmpeting  departments  in  other  stores  that  carry 
IH'I  ^f -celling  goods  to  bring  the  people 
mto  their  places  of  business. 

238 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

"  You  probably  may  not  want  to  stick  in  a 
five  cent  or  a  ten  cent^  counter  anywhere  in  your 
store  in  a  way  to  give  any  cheapening  look  to  the 
place,  but  that  does  not  interfere  with  your  dis- 
playing on  a  table  there  a  line  of  attractive 
goods  with  a  big  '  Your  choice  for  a  nickel '  over 
them,  or  over  in  another  corner  a  line  of  ten  cent 
goods  similarly  arranged.  And  a  twenty-five 
cent  counter  is  not  cheap  enough  to  be  called 
shoddy  in  any  sense. 

"  No  matter  what  sort  of  a  store  a  man  is 
running,  he  can  make  it  pay  in  many  ways  to 
have  one  or  more  tables  or  counters  where  he 
displays  a  line  of  goods  at  twenty-five  cents  for 
your  choice.  A  '  quarter '  is  a  popular  price  for 
innumerable  things  and  it  may  include  not  only 
the  goods  that  sell  for  that  much  apiece,  but  also 
those  that  sell  two  or  three  or  more  for  a  '  quar- 
ter.' 

"  Such  a  counter  serves  as  an  outlet  for  a  good 
many  pieces  of  goods  that  are  really  higher 
priced  but  that  need  to  be  closed  out  for  what 
they  will  bring.  Still  nobody  wants  to  think  for 
a  minute  that  a  special  price  counter  loaded  with 
dead  stock  will  be  a  success  just  because-  that 
dead  stock  is  marked  'way  down.  If  there  is 
any  department  in  a  store  that  needs  new,  live 
goods,  it  is  the  bargain  department,  whether  that 

239 


li 


iii 


f 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 
department  is  a  whole  floor  or  just  a  little  table 


m  one  comer. 


if 


^  Some  merchants'  idea  of  a  bargain  display 
m  the  window  or  anywhere  is  a  pile  of  old  stock 
just  thrown  in  together  looking  as  if  it  was  right 
from  the  scrap  heap.  They  don't  realize  that 
the  older  the  goods  and  the  worse  their  actual 
condition,  the  more  care  ought  to  be  used  in 
making  them  look  good  to  the  public. 

"  In  order  to  make  a  success  of  any  kind  of  a 
bargam  department  the  merchant  must  not  be 
afraid  to  pay  for  leaders  to  use  in  that  depart- 
ment.    Anybody  can  pay  from  $1.50  to  $2  for 
goods  to  sell  on  a  25c  counter  and  make  a  little 
money  on  them,  but  that  sort  of  work  will  not 
make   much   of   a   success   of   the   proposition. 
You  must  be  willing  and  ready  to  pay  $2.75  or 
$3.50  for  a  few  goods  and  $2.25  for  many  and 
you  must  have  the  face  to  put  in  with  them  some 
that  cost  no  more  than  $1.25. 

"  It  is  the  average  of  profit  that  you  are  con- 
cerned with.  Suppose  there  is  a  loss  on  one 
sale.  If  it  is  more  than  made  up  by  the  next 
sale  which  is  due  directly  to  the  losing  sale,  you 
are  ahead  in  the  end.  The  five  and  ten  cent 
stores  get  their  business  by  giving  bargains. 
I  hey  do  not  advertise  much  in  the  newspapers. 
Ihey  employ  cheap  help  and  give  poor  service, 

240 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

but  their  leaders  do  their  advertising  for  them 
and  you  don't  need  to  have  me  tell  you  that  they 
make  money.  You  can  make  money  selling 
some  things  at  less  than  they  cost  you  just  the 
same  as  those  five  and  ten  cent  stores.  An  oc- 
casional leader  that  will  make  people  sit  up  and 
take  notice  will  do  more  real  advertising  for 
your  store  than  the  same  amount  of  money  spent 
in  almost  any  other  way. 

"  You  see,  a  good  advertisement  will  bring  in 
a  lot  of  the  people  who  read  it,  but  not  many  of 
them  will  say  anything  about  it  to  anyone  else- 
Every  woman  that  gets  a  good  bargain  will  tell 
her  neighbors  about  it  and  it  will  go  right  along 
down  the  line,  helping  boost  your  store  as  it 

goes. 

"Why,  talk  about  bargains,  I've  known  a 
merchant  to  buy  a  couple  of  hundred  umbrellas 
at  thirty-five  to  forty  cents  apiece  and  advertise 
them  for  sale  at  ten  cents  each  on  a  certain  day. 
I've  known  a  store  to  sell  250  heavy  iron  shovels 
in  seventeen  minutes  as  an  advertising  stunt,  get- 
ting ten  cents  apiece  for  them  when  they  cost 
several  times  that.  It  takes  a  little  nerve  to  put 
on  a  thing  like  that,  but  when  you  look  at  it  as 
advertising  and  charge  the  loss  up  to  the  adver- 
tising expense,  it  doesn't  look  so  bad. 

"  There  is  a  lot  of  self-selling  merchandise  that 

241 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 
doesn't  belong  in  the  five,  ten  and  twenty-five 
cent  class.     The  manufacturers  of  many  novel- 
ties put  their  goods  up  on  display  cards  and  if 
the  dealer  buys  full  dozens  or  whatever  number 
come  on  a  card,  he  will  get  the  advantage  of  the 
display  and  if  these  goods  are  set  out  where  they 
show  they  will  move  oflF  without  much  help     Of 
course  some  of  these  display  cards  or  racks  are 
pretty  cheap  looking  afl^airs  and  don't  add  anv 
to  the  class  of  the  goods  on  them,  but  you  can 
cut  out  that  kind.    The  trouble  with  these  dis- 
play cards  in  most  stores  is  that  they  are  allowed 
to  get  soiled  and  broken  before  the  stock  is  all 
sold  and  the  last  of  the  lot  drags  terriblv  because 
beside  having  lost  its  novelty  it  is  handicapped 
by  being  shown  on  a  card  that  looked  like  the 
last  run  of  shad  and  would  prejudice  anybody 
against  gold  dollars  marked  50c  each. 

"When   the   card   the  goods   are   shown   on 
advertises   the   fact  that  the   stock  is  old  and 
moving  slowly  and  advertises  it  louder  than  it 
advertises  the  merits  of  the  goods,  the  goods 
won  t  go.    Depend  upon  it ;  the  people  notice 
those  things.    A  fly-specked  show  card  half  full 
of  some  25c  novelty  may  have  been  there  on 
the  show  case  so  long  that  the  proprietor  of  the 
store  doesn't  notice  it  any  more  than  he'd  notice 
a  wart  on  his  nose  after  wearing  it  forty  years, 

242 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

but  that  doesn't  prevent  other  folks  from  notic- 
ing the  disadvantageous  side  of  the  aflfair. 

"  When  the  show  card  or  rack  gets  soiled  and 
can't  be  cleaned  up,  it  must  be  destroyed  and  the 
goods  given  their  chance  in  a  tray  if  they  cannot 
be  put  on  a  fresh  card  of  some  sort.  It  is  worth 
while  for  you  to  save  display  cards  that  don't 
get  broken  and  by  pasting  a  catchy  picture  on 
them  or  covering  them  with  clean  paper,  use  them 
again  in  the  place  of  one  that  has  to  be  thrown 
out  before  the  goods  are  gone. 

"And  that  reminds  me  that  I  saw  a  lot  of 
home  made  display  cards  and  racks  the  other  day 
on  the  show  case  in  a  store  down  the  line.    This 
merchant  had  made  cards  out  of  old   display 
easels  by  recovering  them  and  pasting  pictures 
from  magazines  on  them.    He  took  some  arti- 
cles that  didn't  come  on  a  card  but  that  were  ad- 
vertised in  the  magazines  and  he  pasted  on  an 
old  card  the  advertisement  cut  out  of  the  mag- 
azine and  printed  a  price  on  it  and  put  the  goods 
on   and   set   it  out.     This   was   a   pretty  good 
scheme.    You  see,  it  connected  up  in  the  cus- 
tomer's mind  right  away  the  goods  with  the  ad- 
vertisement he'd  seen.     It  worked  out  well  and 

he  was  pretty  clever  about  making  good  looking 
csscls. 

"  Displaying  goods  is  what  makes  them  self- 

243 


I 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 


A  sleepy  old  grocer  with  no  regard  for  cleanliness  or 

order." 


244 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

selling  in  reality.  The  article  that  is  tucked  away 
in  a  drawer  or  a  cupboard  will  not  sell  itself. 
Someone  may  come  in  and  ask  for  it  but  that 
sale  was  made  outside  of  the  store  by  some  kind 
of  advertisement  or  other  method  of  creating  de- 
mand. By  self-selling  I  mean  selling  itself  to  a 
customer  who  did  not  come  in  to  buy  that  article 
but  saw  it  and  was  pleased  with  it  and  decided  to 
buy,  all  with  no  assistance  from  the  clerk. 

''  So  you  see,  self-selling  goods  have  got  to  be 
displayed  or  they  won't  be  self-selling.  And  of 
course  the  better  you  display  them,  the  better 
they'll  sell  the  more  of  'em  will  sell. 

"  They  ought  to  be  kept  clean  and  made  to 
look  their  very  best  because  the  better  the  goods 
look  to  buyers,  the  quicker  they  will  buy.  When 
you  drop  into  a  store  to  buy  a  cigar,  do  you  feel 
like  picking  up  one  from  a  box  on  top  of  the 
case,  when  its  broken  and  dusty  lid  advertises 
the  fact  that  it  has  taken  a  month  to  sell  a  part 
of  the  box?  Or  do  you,  Mrs.  Barlow,  like  to 
buy  fruit  of  a  sleepy  old  grocer  with  no  regard 
for  cleanliness  or  order?  Of  course  you  don't. 
Even  the  man  who  runs  a  dirty  store  (I  don't 
mean  you,  John),  likes  to  do  his  own  buying  in 
a  clean  store.  The  man  whose  self-selling  mer- 
chandise isn't  self-selling  by  a  long  shot,  buys 
the  self-selling  merchandise  that  he  wants  in 

245 


,=( 


\ 


■i. 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

other  stores  where  they  do  display  it  the  right 
way. 

''The  merchant  doesn't  think.     That's  what 
makes  his  self-sellers  turn  into  stickers  when  the 
lot  is  half  gone.     The  man  who  doesn't  think 
is  right  in  the  same  class  with  the  man  that 
didn't  know  it  was  loaded  and  the  man  that 
rocked  the  boat.     I  haven't  any  special  use  for 
any  of  'em  and  I  never  knew  of  one  who  made 
a  success  on  what  he  was  trying  to  do.     I'll  tell 
you  right  now,  Mrs.  Barlow,  I  don't  consider 
your  husband  one  of  that  kind.     He's  a  pretty 
good  business  man  and  if  you  stick  right  to  him 
with  plenty  of  good  advice,  he's  sure  to  make 
a  merchant  prince  of  himself  one  of  these  days 
and  then  you'll  be  glad  you  married  him." 

"  Oh,  I'm  glad  now,"  said  the  bride  blushing. 
"  He  makes  a  fine  husband  and  I  always  did  think 
he  was  a  good  business  man." 

''  Yes,  I  know,"  said  Tobias,  "  all  women  think 
their  husbands  are  fine  business  men,  but  it  isn't 
because  the  women  know  so  much  about  busi- 
ness usually,  it's  because  the  men  are  their  hus- 
bands. I  wouldn't  go  far  in  accepting  a  man's 
business  reputation  from  his  wife.  I  wouldn't 
be  surprised  though  in  your  case  if  your  opinion 
might  be  worth  something  because  you  are  a 
business  woman.     It  isn't  very  often  a  business 

246 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

woman  marries  a  business  man.  I  don't  know 
why  that  is.  I'm  not  going  to  say  whether  it's 
because  the  business  woman  does  or  does  not 
know  more  about  business  men  than  other 
women. 

"  But  you're  going  to  find  that  John  will  make 
a  lot  of  business  mistakes.  Every  business  man 
does.  He  probably  won't  make  many  that  will 
do  much  harm,  but  he's  liable  to  make  occa- 
sional ones  that  will  cost  him  and  you  some 
money.  Just  make  up  your  mind  right  at  the 
outset  that  he  isn't  perfect  and  that  while  he  is 
doing  his  level  best  and  using  the  best  judgment 
he  has,  still  he  will  go  wrong  at  times.  I  wouldn't 
give  a  cent  for  a  man  who  never  made  any 
mistakes.  The  only  way  a  man  can  be  safe  from 
them  is  by  never  doing  anything  but  the  same 
old  things  he's  always  done.  Any  man  who  tries 
new  plans  and  tries  to  advance  will  make  mis- 
takes. Let  him  make  'em.  You  stand  right  by 
him  and  help  him  get  over  the  mistakes  he  makes 
and  he'll  be  all  right. 

"  A  woman  can  help  her  husband  in  his  store 
in  more  ways  than  just  by  getting  into  the  store 
and  tearing  things  all  to  pieces.  She  has  good 
judgment  in  the  matter  of  arrangement  and  dec- 
oration and  she  ought  to  help  the  man  with  that 
judgment.     I  don't  have  but  mighty  little  use  for 

247 


i 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

a  woman  who  doesn't  help  any  about  her  hus- 
band's business  except  by  spending  the  money 
it  makes.  If  she  isn't  really  interested  in  his 
work,  in  his  way  of  making  money  for  her  to 
spend,  it  is  awfully  poor  policy  and  awfully 
poor  business  for  her  to  show  it. 

"  She  ought  at  least  to  put  up  a  bluff  that  she 
is  interested.  You  can't  blame  a  husband  for 
getting  a  little  sore  if  his  wife  never  asks  him 
anything  about  his  work  and  expects  him  to 
spend  all  the  time  at  home  at  noon  or  at  supper 
time  listening  to  what  she's  been  doing  to  have 
a  good  time  while  he's  been  working. 

'*  Then  I  know  wives  who  never  think  of  ask- 
ing their  husbands  when  they  come  home  to 
dinner  what  their  work  or  their  difficulties  of  the 
day  have  been,  but  they  sit  there  and  pour  into 
patient  ears  all  the  little  penny  worries  of  the 
household,  the  whole  bunch  of  which  don't 
amount  to  a  row  of  pins  compared  with  the  re- 
sponsibility of  some  one  transaction  the  husband 
has  had  on  his  mind  for  days. 

"  It's  the  fashion  nowadays  for  women  to 
claim  to  be  the  equal  of  men  in  business  and 
other  affairs.  I  don't  say  whether  I  think  they 
are  or  aren't,  but  I  do  say  that  a  woman  needn't 
tell  me  that  she  is  entitled  to  share  alike  with 
her  husband  in  all  the  advantages  that  result 

248 


More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

from  his  business,  when  she  isn't  willing  to 
share  in  any  of  its  responsibilities.  Of  course 
women  have  their  responsibilities  at  home.  The 
woman  with  a  household  to  manage  needs  a  busi- 
ness head  to  handle  it  properly  and  there  is 
plenty  of  worry  about  the  work,  but  the  tendency 
is  for  the  man  with  a  store  to  try  to  get  money 
enough  so  that  his  wife  won't  have  to  do  any 
more  of  the  household  managing  than  is  neces- 
sary and  the  more  he  tries  to  accomplish  this, 
the  more  work  he  himself  will  have  and  the  more 
sympathy  and  help  he  ought  to  have  from  his 
wife. 

"Of  course  a  man  needs  a  change  when  he 
leaves  his  store  and  comes  home,  but  I  don't 
know  as  it's  such  an  agreeable  change  to  be  in- 
vited to  come  home  three  times  a  day  or  twice 
or  once  to  listen  to  a  record  of  the  household's 
tribulations  after  they  are  all  over  and  settled 
up. 

"  The  wife  who  meets  her  husband  when  he 
comes  home  and  greets  him  with  a  smile  and  a 
sympathetic  inquiry  that  rub  out  the  care  and 
worry  lines  from  his  face  will  find  him  pretty 
ready  to  listen  to  any  account  of  the  troubles 
she's  had  and  I  advise  'em  both,  tq  get  to  some 
pleasanter  subject  as.fsoon^as  they  cum  ;V* 

"  It's    all    right    for   you   two   young   honey- 


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More  Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper 

mooners  to  stand  there  and  giggle  and  you  prob- 
ably think  I  got  this  out  of  a  page  of  the  '  Ladies' 
Home  Journal/  but  I  didn't.  It's  the  best  kind 
of  business  sense  and  you'll  know  it  as  well  as 
I  do  when  you've  lived  as  long.  A  man's  busi- 
ness success  is  more  dependent  upon  the  happi- 
ness of  his  family  life  than  you  have  any  idea. 
But  I'm  not  worrying  any  about  you  folks. 
You'll  get  along  all  right  and  I  wish  you  both 
many  happy  returns  of  your  wedding  day.  Now 
I've  got  to  go  home  and  explain  to  my  wife  why 
I  stayed  away  so  long  on  that  last  trip.  Come 
up  and  take  dinner  with  us  Sunday,  will  you? 
Good  bye." 


THE   END 


I  • 


2SO- 


•  •     ». 


Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeepe 

By  FRANK   FARRINGTON 
Every  Retailer  Needs  TALKS 

Talks  by  the  Old  Storekeeper  is  a  volume  of 
200  pages  (4i/^x6H).  Twenty-three  chapters  of 
straight-from-the-shoulder  talk  about  the 
.  management  of  a  store.    It  tells  about 

The  displaying  of  goods  inside  the  store. 

The  dressing  of  windows,  giving  practical 
Ideas  of  what  to  put  in  and  what  not  to  put  in. 

Ihe  handling  of  clerks  so  as  to  make  them 
of  the  most  value  to  themselves  and  to  their 
employer. 

The  honesty  and  dishonesty  of  employees 
and  how  to  help  them  to  keep  straight 

Having  a  right  place  for  everything  and 
where  that  place  is. 

Advertising  of  all  kinds,  with  good,  straight 
talk  on  how  to  use  the  newspapers. 

^  How  to  keep  the  local  trade  from  going  to  the 
city  or  to  a  mail  order  house. 

The  Old  Storekeeper's  experiences  with  the 
money-back-if-you-want-it   plan. 

Some  experiences  in  selling  goods  at  cost, 
with  the  results. 

A  woman's  ideas  on  how  a  store  should  be 
run  to  get  her  trade. 

Prices;  what  kind  of  prices  to  use,  how  to 
use  them,  and  when  and  where. 

Salesmanship,  and  the  ways  to  make  pleased 
and  satisfied  customers. 

r.JLKt  "^"^'' ^of  any  business  man,  and  at  five  times  its 
price   no   merchant   can   afford   to   be   without   it— £.   F 
Htxson    Htxson,  Texas. 

Sent  Postpaid  for   $1.00   Honey  Order  or  Stamps 

BYXBEB   PUBLISHING   COMPANY 
440  So.  Dearborn  Stroot  CHICAGO 


,     I 


Back  in  the  Harness 

A  Sequel  Co  TALKS  BT  THE  OLD  STOREKEEPER 

If  70«  bave  had  "Talk*"  tUs  woa't  disappaiat  joa. 

II  yoa  kaTca't  hU  *Talk$/'  taka  this  opportvaity  aari  get  tke  twa  mw. 

Tobias  Jenkins  goes  back  into  business,  opens  a  new 
store  and  tells  how  he  built  up  a  good  trade  out  of  nothing 
—with  some  handicaps.  This  book  is  a  money-maker  for 
any  man  with  a  store.  It  contains  a  lot  of  pointers  on  spe- 
cial sales,  store  management,  clerk  handling,  advertising  and 
all  the  other  things  you  are  interested  in. 
^^  t\i\  Sent  on  receipt  of  price.  Examine  the  book 
M  Jl  ^UU  ^^^  '^  "°*  entirely  satisfactory  return  it  to 
■  us  and  get  your  money  back. 

THE  CLERKS'  BOOK 

4x5^  iochet— 96  pafcs 
MUCH  IN  LITTLE."  This  book  contains  more  real 
meat  for  the  clerk  than  a  whole  library  of  volumes  of  "Sales- 
manship." Many  employers  have  thought  so  well  of  it  that 
they  have  bought  one  for  each  clerk  in  their  employ;  and 
clerks  have  been  so  impressed  by  the  teachings  that  they 
have  written  the  author  that  it  has  been  the  means  oi  their 
securing  increased  salaries  through  increased  efficiency. 
Mr.  Farrington,  who  wrote  the  book,  says  to  the  elerks: 
"Keep  the  book  handy  by  the  counter  or  in  your  pocket  and 
pick  it  up  at  odd  moments.  Don't  try  to  read  it  all  through 
at  once.  Read  a  little  at  a  time  and  then  think  it  over.  If 
your  employer  objects  to  your  reading  it  during  working 
hours,  let  me  know.      Fll  write  to  him. " 

JOHN  MARTIN'S  CLERKS 

4x5  M  iachet— 92  pages 
This  is  a  novel — a  very  unusual  novel.     It  is  a  story  in 
which    is    mingled    love,  honesty,  dishonesty,  a  few  poker 
games,  automobile  rides,  etc.      It  holds  the  interest    from 
start  to  finish.      It  is  a  story  with  a  moral,  but  the  moral  is 
absorbed  unconsciously.     It  is  well 
worth  reading,  and  after  you  have 
read  it  once  you  will  want  to  read 
it  again. 

BTXBEE  PUBUSHING  CO..  440 S<i.  DetfbMi  St..  CikBf 


niurai,  dui  cne  moral  is 

50c  each 


Store  Management-Complete 

Frank  Farrington**  'N^vr^mt  Baok 
A  Companion  Book  to  "Retail  Adyertising — Complete'' 

"Retail  Advertisins— Complete"  tells  all  about  advertising  a  retai  1 
•tore.  Not  only  newspaper  advertisintf.  but  eTerything  in  the  way  of  ad- 
vertising that  will  help  increase  sales.  "Store  Mansgetnent— Com- 
plete tells  all  about  the  management  of  a  store  so  that  not  only  the 
greatest  sales  but  the  largest  profit  may  be  realized.  Nearly  2,000 
copies  of      Retail     Advertising— Complete"    have     already    been    sold. 

*"n  if  ****'***''"**  *^"*    ***"    "*®    ®^    "Store    Management— Complete" 
will  Iba  much  larger,  as  it  treats  of  a  much  broader  subject. 

SYNOPSIS  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I— The  Maa  Hiaiself— Mental  and  physical  qualifica- 
tions. How  to  be  a  merchant.  Overwork  and  its  disadvantages.  Suc- 
cess making  qualities. 

CHAPTER  II— Wh«re  to  Start— Advantages  of  various  locations. 
Mow  to  make  the  most  of  a  poor  location.  Owning  or  renting.  Which 
side  jf^y^e^rect.     Buying  a  store.     How  to  avoid  pitfalls  in  buying. 

UMArrfcR  HI— Store  Arraagement— Making  entrance  easy.  Best 
arrangement  of  windows.     How  to  plan  the  lighting.      Heat  and  ventila- 

****"Vu7SJi?i^S*?w°^^°"".l*'"»'  shelving,  departments,  etc. 

CHAPTER  IV— The  Bnyiag  End— Knowing  what  to  buy.  About 
quantity  discounts.  Taking  cash  discounts.  Keeping  track  of  bills  pay- 
able. 

CHAPTER  y-Tho  Store  Policjr-What  it  should  be  to  hold  trade, 
rhe  money-back  plan.  Meeting  cut  rates.  DcUvering  goods.  Courtesy 
to  customers. 

CHAPTER  Vl-Clerk  MaaagemeBt-What  kind  of  clerks  to  hire. 
Mow  to  treat  them.  Making  clerks  worth  more  money  to  themselves 
and  to  their  employer. 

CHAPTER  VII— Uakt— Goods  wasted.     Time  wasted.     Finding 
little  leaks.     Money-saving  fixtures. 

CHAPTER  VIII-The  Store's  Neighbors-Relations  with  other 
merchants.^  Co-operation  among  local  merchants  for  mutual  advantage. 
Merchants    associations. 

CHAPTER  I X--Working  Hoars— Holidays.  Overtime  when  busi- 
ness demands  it.      Early  closing  vs.  late  closing. 

«7,  C.HAPTER  X— Ezpeascs— How  to  figure  cost  and  profit  per  cents. 
What  it  should  cost  to  do  business. 

.  .  ^".f^rP.  ^^-'^f  C'«>i»  Busiae«-The  advantages  of  the  cash 
basis.  Which  plan  pays  best.  Changing  from  credit  to  cash.  How  to 
coUeet  overdue  accou*' 

CHAPTER  XII-»/hat  to  Soll-The  staple  lines.  Advertised 
goods.  Side  hnes.  Brsnching  out  into  the  mail-order  business.  The 
exclusive  store.     Meeting  msil-order  competition. 

CHAPTER  XIII— Premiom  Gvinr- Does  it  pay?  Your  own  pre- 
nium  plan.  What  kinds  of  coupons  to  use.  What  kinds  of  premiums  to 
give. 

PRICE  Sl.OO  POSTPAID 

Sead  BsONE  DOLLAR.     Keep  the  boolk  tea  da7s,aBd  if  it  isa't 
worth  the  price  retara  it,  aad  get  year  moaej  back. 

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HERE'S  THE  BOOK  THAT  WILL  BE  YOUR  AD.  MAN 

This  book  on  advertising  will  tell  you 
all  you  want  to  know  about  advertising  in  the 
store. 

Retail  Advertising  Complete 

By  FRANK  FARRINGTON 
$1.00  POSTPAID 

With  this  book  on  your  desk  you  are  never 
at  a  loss  what  kind  of  advertising  to  do  or  how 
to  do  it.  Every  kind  of  advertising  is  treated  fully: 

Chapters  on  Newspaper  advertising. 

Making  an  advertisement. 

Good  speoiman  ready-made  ads. 

Mail  Advertising. 

Window  Trimming. 

Advertising  Novelties. 

Outdoor  Advertising. 

Inside  the  store  advertising. 

Advertising  Schemes. 

Special  Sales. 

Mail  Orders,  etc.,  etc. 

272  PAGES  BOUND  IN  CLOTH 

There  is  no  better  book  of  the  kind  at  any 
price.  You  can't  afford  to  get  along  without  it. 

Send  118  your  check  for  a  dollar.  Keep  the  book  ten 
days,  and  if  it  isn't  worth  the  price  return  it  and  get  your 
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WAYS  AN2  SCHEMES 

One  thontand  Ways  and  Schemea  to  attract  trade, 
gathered  from  actual  experiences  of  saccesslul  mer- 
chants in  various  parts  of  the  world  by  Irving  P. 
Fox.  A  book  that  swells  sales  and  increases  profits. 

NO   BOOK  LIKE  IT. 

There  has  never  before  been  published  any- 
where in  the  world  a  book  like  this.  It  gives 
detailed  descriptions  of  one  thousand  and  eight 
ideas  and  schemes  that  have  been  tried  by 
successful  merchants  to  bring  people  to  their 
stores  and  to  sell  goods.  If  you  purchase  this 
book  and  try  a  new  idea  every  day,  there  will 
be  in  it  enough  separate  suggestions  to  last 
you  nearly  three  years  without  repeating  a 
single  one. 

FACTS,  NOT  THEORIES. 

The  book  is  not  the  work  of  an  advertising 
writer,  giving  a  lot  of  theories,  but  is  the  re- 
sult of  slow  and  careful  observation  by  trained 
business  men  extending  over  a  period  of  many 
years.  The  various  ways  to  attract  trade  and 
to  sell  goods  described  were  put  into  practice 
in  stores  representing  nearly  every  line  of  re- 
tail business  and  nearly  every  part  of  the 
English  speaking  world. 

GOOD  FOR  ANY  BUSINESS. 

Almost  every  one  of  the  thousand  and  more 
ideas  in  the  book  is  of  such  a  nature  that,  with 
but  slight  alteration,  it  might  be  adapted  to 
the  conditions  governing  any  other  particu- 
lar trade.  The  book  will  also  be  found  invalu- 
able to  the  retailer  for  what  it  suggests  as  well 
as  for  what  it  says.  Many  of  the  schemes 
mentioned  will  bring  to  mind  new  ideas  which 
could  be  followed  with  equal  success. 

Price  $1 .00  postpaid.  Yovr  Hoaey  Back  if  not  SadsfiedL 


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BOOKS 

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TALKS  BT  THE  OLD  STOREKEEPER 

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BACK  IN  THE  HARNESS 

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50  cents. 


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CHICAGO 


r 


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